Nine Crimes
by blackwidow73
Summary: Mary had thought that she had found the perfect man. There is however, no such thing as perfect, and the situation that Mary is left in is less than perfect. Rated M for a few of the chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: News

Mary sat there and stared out at the rain gently hitting her window. Within a few weeks, her life had taken a one hundred and eighty degree turn. There was no turning back and no denying anymore. Something that had started out as fun and innocent slowly lead to the truths that she didn't want to hear. The man that she thought was perfect, the one that she thought she would end up with, turned out to be nothing but a liar. A nothing. She had been cheated. Everything she wanted was right there with her, and it was all nothing but a set up play. A stupid little game. The man she was sure she loved had only used her and then left her aside.

The phone call that she had just recieved had changed her life. Two little words. No matter what though, she was not going to call him. She was not going to tell him. She wanted nothing to do with him, and here she was, carrying his baby. A baby created from shame and guilty pleasure. If she would have known all along what was truly going on, she would not be in this position in the first place.

_"Leave Greg!" Mary yelled. She walked over to her door and opened it. "Just go." _

_Greg walked over to her. A smile on his face, as if he had found this all to be amusing. All she found in it was infuriation. She had never been so mad at someone in her life. "Now come on Mary," his hand gently squeezed her shoulder. _

_Mary quickly jerked away. Tears of frustration began to form in her eyes. "I swear Greg, leave now or I call the police."  
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_There he stood, just staring down to her. "All right. Fine. If you want to believe her, you believe her. I don't care. You can settle for all the lies in the world, but it isn't going to change a damn thing." _

_"Don't give me that. I saw you two, I know what I saw. She had no reason to lie to me. I only told her that we worked together." _

_Greg's smile faded as he studied her. "You really mean that don't you?"_

_"Yes Greg, I do." _

_Silently, he walked passed her and left the room. As soon as he was passed the door, Mary closed it and then collapsed before it. Tears of guilt and shame fell down her cheeks. She sat there wondering to herself how she could have been so naive, so trusting, so stupid. _

She had to tell someone. Without hesitation, she got up and left her apartment to go to see Rhoda.

Rhoda sat on the bed as she tried on a new pair of shoes that she had gotten. There was a knock at the door. "Come in!" Rhoda said as she continued to study the shoes.

Mary walked in and sat down on the bed. "Rhoda, I gotta talk to you."

Rhoda looked to her with concern. "Yeah sure," she said and then held up her feet. "But real quick first, what do you think of these shoes?"

Mary just broke down crying. She could not contain herself anymore. There was no use in trying, it was all going to come out sooner or later anyways.

"I was a little unsure of them, but I didn't think they were that bad. I'll take em back tomorrow," she said.

"I'm pregnant," Mary just went ahead and blurted it out.

Rhoda slowly lowered her feet and then positioned herself on the bed to face Mary. "Our little Mary's been knocked up?"

Mary just nodded.

"Who's the father?" Rhoda asked. She had a couple of ideas of who it could be, but she wanted to make sure.

"Greg."

That was the one name that she was afraid to hear. Rhoda sympathetically looked to Mary. She grabbed her shoulder. "You know kid, anything, anything at all that you need me to do, I will do it."

Mary sat there. The tears were just starting to subside. "What am I going to do?" It was all just starting to hit her. Everything, Greg, the baby, it was all becoming real to her. Right now, while everything was still new to her, she was starting to panic.

Rhoda embraced Mary as she tried to offer some comfort. "How about I go knock him out. Better yet, I'll go get naked in front of him, mentally scar him for life. How does that sound?" Rhoda looked down, but got no response. Just muffled sobs. "Look, how about tonight, we just try to forget about all of this, and then when you're more used to the idea, we'll figure out where to go from there."

"Okay," Mary said as she sat back up. "Thank you Rhoda."

Rhoda didn't really think that she needed to be thanked. She didn't really do anything. "Any time," she said.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A Bad Situation

_The door flew open to the hotel room. Mary and Greg stumbled in. Mary had obviously had a few drinks while Greg was still pretty sober. Their arms wrapped around each other, they could not seem to seperate. Their lips only parting for miliseconds at a time. Greg took his hand briefly off of Mary's back and closed the door. Together, they clumsily made it over to the bed. _

_o o o o o o o_

_A young lady with medium length blonde hair and a round face walked around an apartment full of people. She was showing off an engagement ring to everyone. She smiled brightly each time she extended her hand to show off the new ring. _

_o o o o o o o_

_Mary had Greg pinned down on the bed. Her shirt was one of the first things removed and was now laying lifelessly on the floor. Kneeling down over him, she grabbed his shirt and started to unbutton it. Slowly, each button coming undone, revealing his chest, and soon enough, his stomach. Her hand slowly stroked down his bare skin. Noticing the bulge in his pants, she smirked as she undid his belt and zipper. _

_Pure lust in both their eyes, she decided to ignore the rest of the clothing and lean down to start kissing him. First kissing his lips and then moving down towards his neck. She could feel him reach up and remove her bra. As he tossed it aside, he grabbed her shoulders and switched positions with her. _

_o o o o o o o o_

_White soft petals hit the ground. Each one leading the way for the young blonde as she walked down the aisle in her wedding dress. Smiling as she passed each row of people gathered there. Her father walking her closer and closer to the man at the alter. _

_o o o o o o o o_

_Both were now completely undressed. Mary pleaded with him as he teased her. Her hand gripped the sheet as soon as he finally went in. _

_o o o o o o o o _

_Greg and the blonde lady stood at the front of the alter as he lifted the veil and kissed her. _

_o o o o o o o o_

_They both moved together perfectly. Climaxing at the same time and then collapsing at the same point. They lay next to each other under the sheets as she turned to him and smiled. _

_o o o o o o o o_

_The blonde and Greg lay next to each other under the sheets as she turned to him and smiled. _

Mary quickly sat up. Out of breath, she looked around the room. It was now morning, and even though she had slept through the night, she had felt as if she had gone a week without sleep. Reluctantly, she pushed herself out of bed and got ready for the day.

As if scheduled, Rhoda entered through the door as soon as she was done getting ready. "Hey Mare," she said as she walked over to the table.

"Hey Rhoda," she greeted as she went and grabbed the coffee. "All I have this morning is toast. That okay with you?"

"Yeah," Rhoda said as she examined Mary for a moment. "Didn't sleep did you?"

Mary looked up to her as she poured the coffee. "I'm sorry, no I didn't."

Rhoda stood up, "Mary, why don't you let me do this. All right? You sit down."

Mary sat down. Her back was to Rhoda who was grabbing the toast and the butter and jelly. all that was on her mind was that next week she was going to have to see Greg again. She was going to have to relive everything that she had just been through. The baby between them would remain a secret, but his presence, she was sure would be enough to mentally torture her. "I feel guilty having this baby."

Rhoda set the things on the table as she sat down. "You have no reason to Mary, trust me. He was the dirty one. You were just the naive innocent one, taken in by his lies and lust."

Mary glared to Rhoda for a second. "You don't understand. I really feel guilty about all of this. Every single bit of it."

Rhoda grabbed her hand. She could se where this was going and wanted to prevent it. "Look, HE lied to you. HE told you that everything was okay. YOU did not tell him to cheat on his wife. YOU didn't even know a Mrs. Thompson existed."

Mary sighed. "But now I do. Now I know that I pulled him away from her. Now I know I'm having the baby that she should be having. I know what happened, and I don't like any bit of it." Mary leaned forward and slightly gripped onto Rhoda's hand. "I hate to say this, but all this baby is to me is a reminder of the cheap affair that I had. A reminder of how stupid I could be."

"I am going to say this again, and this time very slowly so that maybe you will understand. He decided that he wanted to cheat. I know that you did not wake up one morning and decide to get knocked up by some married creep. And hey! He wasn't married when he met you was he?"

Mary sighed. "He was engaged Rhoda. He married her right after he started dating me. I don't see how that is much better."

"She told you that?" Rhoda asked.

Mary took her hand from Rhoda and used both her hands to cover her face for a moment. "I figured it out while I was talking to her. I lied to her and told her that I was just working with him while he was staying with WJM for the month. She said that they got married a few towns over and I met him the first day that they arrived here." Mary sat back and rested her hands on her abdomin. This was going to take a lot of adjusting. "I wonder what people will think when they find out."

Rhoda shrugged. "Probably that the creep who knocked you up should be hunted down and burned at the stake." She saw the pitiful look on Mary's face. "We know you Mare, we know that this all wasn't your fault. Me, Lou, Murry, I'm sure they'll support you. Now Phyllis on the other hand I wouldn't tell until the kid's about eighteen."

Mary laughed, the first time in the last twenty four hours that she had even smiled. "You think you could help me look for a new place soon? I don't think a one room place is going to do anymore."

"Sounds good to me. We can start looking next month if you want," Rhoda said.

"Good, the sooner the better. I want plenty of time to get everything set up for when the baby's born."

Without warning, the door swung open and Phyllis walked through into the room. "Mary!" She walked over and stood between Mary and Rhoda. "I need to talk to you."

"Hi Phyllis," Rhoda said from behind Phyllis.

Phyllis slowly turned back. "Could you please excuse us Rhoda? This is a private matter between Mary and I."

Mary sighed and closed her eyes for a minute. This was not the time for her to be dealing with other people's problems. Wearily, she opened her eyes and looked to Phyllis, who had obviously not picked up on her body language. "What is it?"

"Its Bess. She's not talking to me. Her boyfriend called and talked to her and now she's downstairs in the bathroom where she locked herself in."

Rhoda grabbed Phyllis's arm and slightly turned her in her direction. "Hey there. You forget abotu me? The queen of break ups?"

Phyllis's face lit up. "That's right! You could never hold onto a man," Phyllis said as she went around and sat on the other side of Rhoda.

Rhoda looked down for a minute. "Yeah, well, anyways. Do not, I repeat, do not try and barge in there. The kid obviously wants her privacy right now. When she's ready to talk to you she'll come out." Rhoda thought a second to try and come up with something that Phyllis would want to hear. "I mean, privacy is right, and its not a good thing to rid someone of their rights now is it?" Rhoda turned back and looked to Mary.

"No Rhoda, its not," Mary answered.

Phyllis sat there for a moment. "I can't believe it Rhoda, but you are absolutely right." Phyllis stood up and headed for the door. "How did I forget something like that?"

Rhoda turned to Mary. "And there she goes, Florence Nightengale, ready to heal any wounds that she may find."

Mary stood up. "Yeah well, we had better get going. Something tells me that this is about to be a long day."

"All right," Rhoda said as she stood up. She began to gather her dishes, but Mary stopped her.

"If you don't mind, I think I could use the moment alone. You think you could just meet me out in the car?"

Rhoda set everything back down. "Sure, I'll see you in a minute then."

Mary stood there and watched Rhoda leave the room. As soon as she was alone, she sat back down at the table and laid her head down as the tears fell from her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Truth

Mary walked into the news room and hung up her coat. She had been feeling better. A week had passed since she had found out about the baby. "Good morning Murray," she greeted as she walked over to her desk and set her purse down in the drawer.

"Morning," Murray said.

Mary sat down and looked over to him. "Something wrong?" she asked.

Murray sighed. "Ted came to me this morning complaining because one of his 'fan letters' stated that he did not sound smart enough. he wants me to start using bigger words on the cards."

Mary laughed. "Easy, write the letters bigger for him."

"One word per card," Murray said.

Lou walked in as the two were laughing. "Morning," Lou grunted as he walked past them and into his office. Within seconds of entering his office, the door flew open. "Out Ted!"

Ted started walking out. He stopped and turned towards the door. "Now Lou," he started, but the door was closed in his face. Ted turned and saw that Mary and Murray had been watching. "All right Lou, maybe some other time," he said and then walked back towards his dressing room.

Another then entered the news room. He was in his early thirties, light brown hair and bright green eyes. Little did Mary know, but those green eyes had admired her the last time that he was there. "Hello Mary," he said walking up to her.

Mary turned and looked at him for a second. She recognized his face, but his name was not coming to her. "David!" she said finally remembering. "David, how are you?"

"Good," he said. "How about you?"

"I'm doing good."

"That's good. Do you think I can go in and see Mr. Grant? Greg and I are coming back here for a few weeks. I just thought I would let him know that we're here now."

"Sure, just be careful. Remember last time you were here? Its Monday and I think he's a little hungover."

David nodded. "Thanks for the warning," he said. He thought back to the first time he was there. His first attempt to ask her out.

_David showed up early. He was the only person in the news room so far. Setting the bouquet of roses on the desk, he took out a small notecard and wrote on it: _

_"From your secret admirer. Before you, I had thought that perfection didn't exist, but of course you have proven me wrong. I wish that I wasn't such a coward, because then I would be able to ask you out in person. Please, please meet me downstairs after work, that way I can hopefully be able to ask you out to dinner."_

_Quickly, he set the note down in the flowers and then left the room. It was later on while he was going through the files that Mary walked in and saw the flowers on her desk. He could hear her, but didn't dare to turn back and look._

_"Murray, do you know who sent these?"_

_"No they were here this morning when I got here." _

_"How about you David?"_

_David turned turned around as he grabbed a couple of files. "What?" he asked pretending to have not been paying attention to what they were talking about. _

_"Do you know who put these flowers here?"_

_"I'm sorry, I don't." _

_Later that day, after work, he got off the elevator. His heart was racing. There was a small stuffed bear in his hand that he was going to give her. He froze though as he spotted her with Greg. _

_"So, you're the one who gave me those flowers?" she asked. She was facing him, slowly closing the space between them. _

_"Yeah," Greg said. "And um I was wondering," he started. _

_"Dinner?" she asked trying to help him. _

_"Yeah, yeah that," Greg said. "Um, what time should I pick you up?" _

_Mary laughed. She pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and wrote down her address. "Here, you can meet me here at eight." she handed it to him. "If that time works for you of course."_

_"Perfect," he said. _

_David just stood there and watched them each walk in different directions. He was too late. He had gotten there too late and Greg got her. After that had happened, he had decided to only talk to Greg when absolutely necessary. _

There was nothing that he could do now. He knew that Mary and Greg were dating. He wasn't sure yet as to whether or not they had stayed together or what happened. All he knew was that he and Greg both left the station at the same time and were now coming back.

David got to the door, and was about to knock, but turned back to look at Mary, she was already back to work. "Hey, Mary," he said. "Do you think you're free for lunch today?"

Mary looked up. She hesitated to answer. She wanted to say yes, David was a sweet man, but she couldn't. First, she was pregnant, and second, it was harder for her to trust a man asking her out. "Actually," she started. "I'm busy today." She could see the drop in his face. "But I think Wednesday we could."

David smiled. "Okay, that could work."

Mary didn't need to go out on a date right now, but the more she thought about it, the better. David and Greg weren't supposed to be there that long, and it would get her out of having to talk to Greg at all.

Murray waited until Lou let David into his office before he said anything. "Why didn't you go out with him today?"

Mary shrugged. "Just can't. I have a doctor's appoinment over lunch and then tomorrow I promised Rhoda I would go with her."

"Oh," Murray said.

Mary sighed. This wasn't one of those secrets that a person could keep for long. Her shoulders slumped as she turned to him. "As soon as David gets out of there, come with me. I have something to tell you and Lou about."

Murray sensed the seriousness in her voice. "Okay, sure," he said.

They both worked in silence for the next few minutes. Mary had to tell them, there was no getting out of it. She trusted these two people, but it just wasn't something that you enjoyed telling people. The longer she spent waiting though, the more she thought about backing out and making up something to tell them. The second she heard the door open, she jumped.

"Bye Mary, I'll see you tomorrow," David said as he walked passed her.

Mary turned to him. "Bye," she said. As soon as he was out the door, she got up and headed towards Lou's office with Murray following her.

"Mr. Grant," she said as she knocked at the door. "May I come in? I have something important to talk to you about."

"Come in!" Lou called out from behind his desk. He kept his head down as he looked over a few of the papers scattered on his desk. "Make it quick," he said without looking up as Mary and Murray stepped into the small office.

Mary closed the door behind her and sat down in the chair before his desk. "Do you remember Greg?" she asked. She hadn't really talked much about him, but everyone at the station knew that they dated a little. No one, however, knew why they had broken up. It was all too embarressing for Mary to tell.

Lou looked up. "Yeah?" he asked, trying to speed this up.

Mary sighed as she looked down and played with the bottom of her skirt. "And you are aware that we dated?"

Lou sighed. "Look Mary, if the next couple of weeks are going to be a little awkward for you because you two used to have thing then you're just going to have to get used to it. We can't decide which employees to keep here based on office romances."

Mary didn't quite know why, but she really wanted to cry. She knew it was the hormones finally kicking in, but this was a bit ridiculous. His comment was not all that harsh. Now all she wanted to do was blurt out her problem and leave as quickly as possible. "He was using me to cheat on his wife," she said holding back tears. "And now I'm gonna have his baby." The tears finally fell. As quickly as she could, she stood up and went for the door.

Murray, who was standing right next to the door, stopped her. "Wait Mary, you might wanna try and collect yourself in here. You'll have a lot of questions if you go out there crying." He wanted to make things just a tiny bit easier on her, and having a bunch of people asking her questions was not going to help.

Lou set everything aside and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said. I didn't know."

Mary stood there and tried to calm herself down. "I'm sorry, I just had to tell you that. I figured some people would get suspicious if I just walked in here eight months pregnant ready to pop." Mary sat back down. "I also didn't want you asking any questions if you noticed me trying to avoid him."

"I won't," Lou said. He was still in a daze. The girl that had become like a daughter to him, was sitting here, hurt and betrayed, and there wasn't much that he could do about it. "Anything you need?" It was all he could do.

Mary just shook her head.

Murray looked over to her. "You know Mare, I think Marie and I have saved a few things from when our kids were babies. If you need any of it," he suggested.

Mary smiled up to him. "Thank you."

"You need some time alone in here?" Lou asked.

Mary again shook her head. "I think I'm going to be fine," she said and then stood up. "Although, there is one thing I would like you both to do."

"What's that?" Murray asked.

"Don't mention any of this to Greg, please. I don't want him to know about the baby. Appearently he already has his own family to worry about."

Both Murray and Lou agreed to keep the secret between them. As soon as they agreed, Mary went back out to her seat. "I can't see why anyone would put a girl like that in that type of situation," Lou said.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Lies

Mary sat at her desk. It felt as if every muscle in her body were tensed up as she awaited Greg's appearence. Today was his first day there, and the longer he waited to show up, the more and more she was dreading even showing up that day. She had to do it though. There was no way that she could just hide her entire life. Besides, she didn't want to make him suspicious of anything.

Feeling nausea begin to wash over her, Mary quickly stood up and ran for the bathroom. Both Lou and Murray just watched her. There was no reason to say anything, to bring any attention to her.

Mary walked out of the bathroom stall and washed her hands. As soon as she turned the faucet off, she looked up at herself in the mirror. Looking back at her was a somewhat pale looking version of herself. Her eyes though, they showed how vulnerable she was at the moment. How fragile she truly could be. "I guess I can't hide in here all day," she softly said to herself and then left.

Walking out into the hallway, she passed the elevator and stopped at the drinking fountain for a quick drink. While she sipped at the water, she felt a hand on her shoulder. A hand that made her tense up, and she knew that he could feel it. She knew who it was. Instantly, she stood up and turned around to face him. "Greg!" she tried to sound more like she was warning him, but it came out as more of a gasp.

"Mary," she said watching her closely. "You haven't changed a bit from the last time I saw you."

Mary just rolled her eyes and walked away. There was nothing to say to him. As far as Mary was concerned, she didn't even owe it to him to waste her time on screaming at him again. On telling him how much of a bastard he truly was, and always will be.

Mary walked into the news room and rushed to her seat. "Mary!" Greg called as he passed through the doors. "You can't go on ignoring me!"

Mary pulled out a file that she was working on and pretended to actually work on it. There was no way that she could actually block him out and concetrate. His voice alone brought up too many memories and emotions.

"Mary," Greg attempted again.

Murray looked up to Greg. "Hey, why don't you go and see if Lou is ready to see you?" He wanted to get him away from Mary without causing a scene."I think he'll get mad if you show up late."

Greg sighed in defeat. He actually considered what Murray had said. He didn't need to get in trouble on his first day there. "Fine, I'll go and check."

Greg walked away from Mary and over to the door. As soon as she knew that he wasn't watching her, Mary looked up to Murray and smiled. "Thank you," she mouthed to him.

Murray simply returned the smile and then looked up to see if he was getting any response from Lou. The door did open up and finally, Greg walked in as David walked out and then closed the door behind him. "Hey, did Lou and Greg get in a fight or something?" David asked.

Both Mary and Murray looked up to him. "I don't think so," Mary said. "Why?"

David sighed. "When Greg walked in there, Lou looked like he wanted to kill him."

Mary looked back to Murray and softly smiled. They both knew what that was about, and Mary found it somewhat touching. It was comforting to know that she had people on her side, to know that others were willing to stick up for her. "I think you're going to have to ask Greg when he comes out," Mary said as she looked back to David.

David just waved it off. he didn't care enough to actually bring himself to talk to Greg. "Are we still on for lunch tomorrow?" It was completely off topic, but he had to make sure.

Mary smiled. "Actually, maybe we could do dinner tonight instead? I really need to talk to you." With the way Greg was acting, she wanted to talk to David as soon as possible. He didn't need to know everything that was going on, but she did want to let him know that they had broken up, and probably most of the story behind the break up. She thought that he and Greg must talk a little, and the last thing she wanted was for David to be asking her questions about Greg's twisted version of what had happened between them.

"That works with me," David smiled as he walked over to her desk.

Mary grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down her address. "You think you can find that?" she asked handing the paper to him.

David took it and looked over the address. "I think so," he said looking over the paper to her. "Seven okay with you?"

"Yeah," Mary said. The sooner, the better. She didn't want to have all that much to sit back and convince herself to not go. "I'll see you then."

"All right. See ya," David said and then stuffed the paper into his pocket as he walked off towards the film room.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

It was lunch time now. Mary stood at her desk as she grabbed her purse and waited for Rhoda to show up. While she was preoccupied with removing the clutter from her desk, Greg walked up behind her and wrapped his arm around her waist. It had the same affect on her that it used to, a chill went through her entire body. Something that she used to love was now the most uncomforting feeling to her. "Greg," she hissed. Mary quickly turned to him, breaking his hold on her.

"I was just saying goodbye. And I was also going to invite you to lunch with me."

His eyes seemed to penetrate her. The crooked smile teasing her. All the sudden she felt weak, like he was taking control over her. "No," she answered.

"Okay," Greg said. He casually turned and walked away.

Mary turned back and held onto her desk to steady herself. Tightly, she closed her eyes. What had she ever seen in him? How could she have ever trusted this creep?

"Mary? Are you all right?"

Mary opened her eyes and looked over to see Murray standing beside her. He looked like he was getting ready to catch her when she fell. "Yeah, I just got a little dizzy there." She stood up and composed herself. "I just needed a second," she said reassuring to him that she was okay.

Murray watched her for a second. She wasn't okay, but what was he going to say to her? No you're not? He could see that she was preoccupied as she stared down towards the floor.

"You ready Mare?" Rhoda asked as she walked into the room.

Mary quickly looked up and forced a smile. "Yeah," she said. "Just let me grab my coat and we can go." Mary picked up her purse from her desk. "Bye Murray," she said as she passed him on her way to the coat rack.

"Bye Mary," he said.

"Bye," Murray said. He stood there and watched her leave. He was beginning to get truly worried about her.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Greg sat at the booth in the restaurant by himself. There was no one out here for him to join for lunch. The place was mostly quiet today, so he sat there and read over the news paper.

"Thank you."

Greg looked up from his paper. That voice. He knew that voice.

"So Mare, how's your first day of working with the creep going?"

He knew that voice too. Instead of saying anything though, he decided to stay silent and listen in. All he wanted to know was how she truly felt about him. It was obvious to him that they liked each other, maybe even loved each other up until she found out about his wife. He wanted that back. He wanted the weekends they spent, the late nights, laughing together, kissing, everything.

Mary and Rhoda sat in the booth behind Greg. Mary didn't even bother looking over the menu as she sipped at her water. "I don't like it. He keeps trying to get my attention. He even grabbed me before I left for lunch."

Greg rolled his eyes.

"Just ignore him kid. You don't have that long to go do you?" Rhoda asked.

"I sure hope not. But something tells me that the rest of this week alone is going to feel like a year." Mary finally picked up her menu and started to look over the lunches. "I just hope he's gone before I start showing," Mary said keeping it hushed.

Rhoda looked up to her from over the menu. "I thought you said that he wasn't supposed to be there that long."

"Yeah, but something tells me that he's going to try and stay as long as he possibly can."

"Didn't you say that you told Lou about the baby?" Rhoda asked.

Mary nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I don't have anything to worry about." Mary looked up and started to smile. "David said that when Greg walked into his office today that he looked like he wanted to kill him."

Greg just sat there. She was pregnant. That was all that he knew so far. It was most likely his baby. Hopefully it was his. A smirk slowly cracked his face. He know knew what to do to get her and keep her.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

After lunch, Greg quickly got back to work and waited out in the hallway. He was able to sneak out of the restaurant early without being caught. Everytime that he saw the elevator door begin to open, he grew excited. And everytime it was not her, he knew the next time there was a better of it being her.

This time, it finally was her. The doors opened and revealed Mary standing there, alone. Her eyes widened as soon as she saw Greg standing there. How could he always be there? Was this what she had to look forward to the entire time that he was going to be there? She could feel the nausea beginning to overcome her again, but this time she ignored it. She couldn't put on a show in front of him.

Instead of even giving him the satifaction of noticing him, Mary stepped off the elevator and started towards the news rooom.

"What's your problem?" Greg asked as she passed him. "Not even a hello for the father?" He asked as he slowly turned to face her.

Mary froze. It suddenly felt as if the ground had been pulled out from under her. Somehow, she could feel him watching her. She could feel his cold eyes set on her, waiting for her to respond. Waiting to finally push her over the edge. Slowly and carefully, she turned and discovered she was right. "Wh... what? What was that?" she asked.

Greg stepped towards her. "Don't play dumb Mary, you were never much of a lair." He took another step towards her. "I know all about the baby. The one, that I have yet to hear about from you."

"How did you know?" Her blood was beginning to boil. After what he had done, he had no right to act like she was keeping things from him.

"Lou threatened me this morning. Just something that slipped out I guess," he said.

Mary's face completely dropped. She went from angry to betrayed. She glanced over towards the door and then hopelessly looked back to Greg. "Mr. Grant told you?" she asked while she vaguely pointed in the direction of the news room.

Greg nodded.

Mary rushed over through the news room and into Lou's office.

"Don't you believe in knocking?" Lou asked as he heard the door close. He then looked up and saw Mary close to tears. "Mary? What happened?"

"How could you?" she asked. "How coud you? I trusted you." Mary took a second to try and prevent the tears, but it was no use.

"What are you talking about?" Lou asked.

"You told him! I asked you to keep it a secret and you told him! Now he knows everything!" Mary yelled.

Lou stood up and walked around the desk. "Mary," he said. he tried to grab her shoulder, but Mary pulled away from him.

"Just stay away from me!" Mary went to open the door, but stopped for a second. "I thought you were my friend," she said and then stormed out of the room.

Lou went and stood in the doorway "Mary!" he called out, but it was no use, she didn't stop. Murray walked into the room as Mary was leaving. He stopped at his desk and looked to Lou with confusion. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing!" Lou snapped. "Now get back to work," he said and then slammed the door behind him.

Mary got out to the hallway and rushed over to the elevator. She was about to push the button to go down, but Greg stepped in front of her and blocked her. "I don't think you should be so worked up in your condition."

"Let me through Greg! I don't know why you can't get it through your head. We're over. As a matter of fact, we never had anything."

Greg leaned back against the elevator door. "Not to pull your halo down, but if you're so innocent in this whole situation, then why are you pregnant? Is this one of those special virgin Mary type births? The name does fit the situation, too bad it don't fit the person."

Mary stood there and tried her hardest to keep calm. All she wanted to do was get downstairs and go home. She tried again to reach for the button, but Greg grabbed her hand.

"Hold on there," Greg said. "Didn't your parents teach you any manners? Wait until I'm done talking."

Mary pulled her hand away and turned around. She knew where the steps were and found no other choice than to use them. She started down to the other end of the hall.

"Hey!" Greg called out as he ran to catch up to her. "I just want to talk to you."

"No you don't," Mary said as she began to speed up.

"You can't keep me from my child," he said. "Do you know how unfair you would have been to me to have kept that baby a secret from me?"

Mary stopped and looked back to him. "How can you talk like that? After you lead me on? After you lied to me? Made me the other woman in your dirty little affair? How dare you tell me not to keep things from you."

"I loved you," he answered.

Mary had never been so mad at someone. She never knew she could feel so betrayed, so angered. Without thinking about it, she punched him. Right after she had done it, she jumped back and turned and wentdown the stairs. Greg stood there, grabbing his nose which was now bleeding.

_Ever the optimistic one  
>I'm sure of your ability<br>To become my perfect enemy_

_~ Passive by A Perfect Circle  
><em> 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Undo It

Greg and David were both working back in the film room. David had his back to Greg, they had both decided to look on opposite sides of the room. Neither of them came out and said that they would, but there had been some sort of silent agreement between the two to ignore each other.

"I heard that you have dinner with Mary tonight," Greg casually stated, breaking the silence.

David didn't even bother to turn and look back at him. "What about it?" he asked. The only reason he answered was that he knew that she had left early. He was wondering if he was about to mention her being sick or something.

Greg shrugged. "Nothing. I'm just surprised that her situation doesn't bother you. I know it would me." He stood there silently, pretending not to care.

David hated to admit it, but he was now curious. "Really?" he nonchalantly asked. Truthfully, he was hoping that Greg would continue on without having to ask him to.

"Yeah. You truly are a good man for it. Most would leave the tramp." Greg knew that he was getting him more and more interested with each sentence. He had to make him ask though. He had to get David to set aside the reasons why he hated him and finally ask. To make him loathe himself as he admitted that he actually needed answers from him.

David was about to lose it. This man was driving him crazy, and he knew that that was what Greg was going for. "It doesn't matter to me." David grabbed the role of film that he needed and started to leave.

Greg sighed and caught him right in the doorway. "She's having my baby." Greg then slowly turned to see how David was reacting.

David looked to Greg in disbelief. "How could you even think to lie about something like that? You're more pathetic than I thought you were."

"Sure, she's keeping my own child from me and you call me pathetic? The lady dumped me as soon as she found out she was pregnant." Greg stared to him with cold, expressionless eyes. "If you don't believe me, just ask her."

David stood there. "That can't be right. That just doesn't sound like her."

"She broke up with me. I come back here and find out about the baby. I went and told her that I want to help out. That I want to be apart of my child's life. You know what that bitch did? She told me that she didn't need me. That she hated me and to never talk to her or the kid. Ever."

David just shook his head and started to leave the room.

"She's just using you to get at me!" Greg called out.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary sat in her apartment as she blankly stared. Curled up in the corner of the couch as she hugged onto a pillow, she wiped at her tear stricken face. It didn't matter though, there was no one around to see her. No one around to care at the moment. Nothing mattered now. He knew. All it took was one little slip, and he knew.

_Mary sat across from Greg. There was a candle in the center of the table which provided most of the light. _

_"These have been the best three weeks of my life so far," Greg said. _

_Mary smiled to the comment. "I don't its possible for anyone to agree more than I agree with you right now. I just wish that you didn't have to leave so soon." _

_Greg smiled up her as he reach across the table and grabbed her hand. "We still have tonight you know." _

Mary blankly stared towards the window. Without realizing it, she had started gripping the pillow with her clenched hand.

_Mary sat up in bed with the sheets pulled up around her. "Greg!" she called as she shook his shoulders to wake him up. _

_"What?" he grogily asked. _

_"We're running late!" Mary said as she jumped out of bed. _

_Greg sat up and smiled at the view. "I think I know a way to get through our showers quicker," he suggested. The smirk, the one that she hated now, creeped across his face. _

She pried her one hand off the pillow and brought the fist up to her mouth.

_They stood there together in the shower. Greg stood behind her, the water dripping from his hair, glistening on his skin. His arms, at the time his warm and comforting arms, slid around her waist. She quivered as his lips started lightly kissing her neck. She brought her arms up and wrapped them back around his neck as she caressed his wet hair. _

_Her thoughts of being late disappeared. It all started to seem like it didn't matter anymore. Nothing was more important than the time she was spending with him now. Slowly, she turned to him. "Why do I feel like the second we step out of here, something's going to end between us?" _

_Greg just stared down to her. "I don't know," he said. Grabbing her shoulders, he pulled her to him until he could feel her breast against his chest. "Maybe you're just having the best shower that you've ever had?" _

_Mary laughed. "I can't argue with that." _

Her eyes tightly closed as the fresh tears dripped off her eyelashes. The palm of her hand stung when the tears managed to hit the spot where her nails had dug into her skin. Still though, she refused to move her hand away from its position by her mouth. So what if it stung? So what if she had gotten angry enough to hurt herself?

One of her best friends had hurt her. The one that she thought she could trust, the one that she had trusted, betrayed her. Not only did Greg find out about the baby, but she had learned that there was one less person out there that she could trust. Now Greg knew and it was obvious that he was going to go out of his way to ruin her life over it.

"Can I come in?" Rhoda asked as she knocked at the door.

Mary looked back. "Its open!" she said.

Rhoda walked in and saw Mary sitting there. The tears still visible. "What happened?" she asked as she walked over. "Did something happen after I left today?"

Mary looked up to her. "Greg knows."

Rhoda sat down in the chair. "Greg knows...? Everything?" Rhoda was starting to get worried.

"He knows enough," Mary said. It was hard enough for her to acknowledge that. It was twice as hard for her to comprehend why Lou broke his promise. He could have let anything else at any other time slip. But no, the one that could completely ruin her life is the one that he tells.

Rhoda watched her for a second. This was all a bit hard to understand. "How?" she asked.

Mary sighed. Her eyes wondered to the bracelet on her wrist. "Mr. Grant," she softly announced.

"Are you sure?" Rhoda asked.

"He said that Mr. Grant had threatened him and it slipped out. I know that Greg doesn't have a record of being truthful, but I don't know how else he would have found out."

It was hard for Rhoda to believe that Lou would do something like that, but she was right, it was about the only way for him to know. "Are you going to be all right?"

Mary shrugged. "That's up to Greg now."

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary stood in front of the mirror as she double checked her hair. She was all dressed up and ready to go. If only she felt as good as she looked though. The only reason that she was still going out with David was because she knew that he deserved to know what was really going on, and not some perversed version of whatever Greg could have been telling him. Besides that though, it was a chance to just forget everything. To go out and talk about normal things and not what's going to happen when the baby's born and where there are places avaliable with more than one bedroom.

The knock at the door that she had been waiting for finally came. "Come in!" she called out as she grabbed her necklace and fastened the clasp in the back.

David entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"You can go ahead and..." Mary turned around and saw David standing there in a t-shirt and jeans. "Should I go change?"

"We're not going out tonight Mary," David announced.

"Oh? Okay then." Mary turned back to face the mirror. "I wish you would've called and told me before I got ready." Really, she was worried. She could tell just in the way that he watched her, the way that he was talking and his walk, he was drunk. "Is there uh, something wrong David?"

David slightly laughed. "Why don't we start with you? Is this some sort of game that you're playing?"

Mary looked ot him with confusion and then walked over. "What are you talking about?"

"Are you using me?" he asked.

Mary just watched him. Her eyes locked on his. Hurt and distant, he watched her, awaited her answer.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"You're boyfriend Greg told me that you were pregnant and wanted to show how much you hated him, so you said you would go out with me." David sighed as she leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor.

"David," she started. Now she was more angry than anything.

"You don't know Mary, you really don't." He looked up to her. "You, I adored you. I was just too fucking shy. That's why I left you those damn flowers asking you to dinner." He looked back down, as if pouting to himself. "But you didn't go with me. You went with that lying bastard who claimed to have left the flowers there."

Mary just stood there and stared at him. She knew exactly what he was talking about. The flowers.

_"Hi Mary," Greg greeted as she passed him in the film room. _

_"Hey," she said and then stopped for a minute. "Do you by any chance know anything about the flowers that I found on my desk asking me out?" _

_Greg smiled and then turned to her. "Only if you can give me an answer as to whether or not you'll go out with me." _

_Mary smiled. "I'd love to." _

"That was supposed to be our date," David softly said to himself. "We could have been the ones dating all this time."

His last sentence 'we could have been the ones dating all this time' hit her. It was true. If she would have known that he sent the flowers, if she would have went out with him she wouldn't be in this situation. Everything that she had been trying to block out, everything that was going wrong for her, would have never happened.

_Mary stood up to leave, but hit the person seated at the table behind her. "I'm so sorry!" she quickly apologized. _

_The young blonde turned around as she softly laughed. "No damage done. You're fine." _

_"Are you sure?" Mary asked. _

_"Yes." She extended her hand out. "Its Ellen by the way. Ellen Thompson." _

_Mary shook her hand. "Mary Richards," she said. "And not to be nosy, but I work with a Greg Thompson."_

_Ellen laughed. "WJM? Yeah, he's my husband." _

Blankly staring, she slowly paced back over towards the chair and leaned back on the arm.

_"Damn it Greg! I knew we would have a few secrets that we kept from each other, but a wife?" Mary sternly asked as she tried her hardest to keep from yelling and letting the neighbors listen in on the argument. _

_"Yes! I have a wife! Who cares? We love each other don't we?" Greg asked. _

_"You promised her that she would be the only one in your life. Does that mean nothing to you? I can't be that other woman." Mary then turned her back to him. She just couldn't stand to look at him any longer. _

_"So what? You hate me now because I cheated?" Greg asked starting to raise his voice in anger. _

_Mary quickly wheeled around. "No! No I don't hate you because you cheated. You lied to me! You betrayed me! You earned my trust and then completely took advantage of it!" Mary stopped for a second to try and stop the tears that were gathering in her eyes. "You used me as if I were just some toy that you could play with for a while and then toss a side. Played with my emotions. Let me believe that it was okay to fall in love with you, and then took my heart and stomped all over it." She looked him in the eyes, but didn't find a trace of sorrow._

_"I'm sorry," he said. _

_"I don't care! Now get out!" _

Looking sympathetically over to David, she stood up and walked over. "I'm sorry. I was going to tell you at dinner, but I guess I should've come out and told you everything sooner."

David looked up to her and then stood up. "Look, I don't wanna hear it right now. Maybe tomorrow or some other time, but not now."

Mary stood there and watched him leave. She was about ready to cry, but stopped herself. "Bastard," she said under her breath. Quickly, she rushed over and grabbed her purse before storming out of the apartment.

_I should've known by the way you passed me by_

_There was something in your eyes and it wasn't right_

_I shoud've walked, but I never had the chance_

_Everything got out of hand and I let it slide_

_Now I only have myself to blame_

_For falling for your stupid games_

_I wish my life could be the way_

_It was before I saw your face_

_You stole my happy, you made me cry_

_Took the lonely and took me for a ride_

_And I wanna undo it_

_~ Undo It by Carrie Underwood _


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Thoughtless

Mary rushed out to her car and started the engine. She knew where she was going, Greg had mentioned where he was staying to her plenty of time that day. The drive there was a short one. The only thing on her mind at the moment was Greg. How Greg had managed to turn one of her friends into a trader and then an innocent man into a drunk. All to get to her. This was as far as she could handle.

Once she arrived at the hotel, she got up to the right floor and located the room. Taking a minute, she closed her eyes and gathered herself. Gently then, she grabbed for the doorknob and opened the door.

"Mary?" Greg asked. He was sitting on the edge of the bed looking over a file. He closed the folder and tossed it to the side. "What are you doing here? Finally come to your senses?" Slowly, he stood up and started to walk towards her.

"You know damn well why I'm here!" she hissed as she backed away from him.

"Please," Greg said. "Inform me."

"That's what I would like you to do. All you have done since you have gotten here is try to torture me! Is this some sick and twisted way of trying to win me back?" Mary was desperate, but she tried her hardest to cover it up. The last thing she needed was to be vulnerable around him.

Greg smiled. "Now come on, I'm not that stupid. I don't think that all of these little stunts, the listening in on you and Rhoda during and telling David about little secret, are going to make you like me."

"Lunch?" Mary asked. Her face softened as she started to star off into the distance. "You followed Rhoda and me to lunch?" she asked. Now she was just more shocked than anything. She was also beginning to feel bad for what she had done earlier, going in and yelling at Lou.

"Well, it was more like you followed me, but whatever story you like better." The smug look on his face was enough to make her want to strangle him.

"So naturally you tell me that Lou told you?" she asked. There was no questioning why, it was obvious.

"Of course. It was more fun that way. As a matter of fact, the only reason I let you in on my little secret now was only because I wanted you to know."

"Excuse me?" she asked, not quite understanding what he was trying to get at.

Greg leaned on the arm of the couch and smiled to Mary. "I wanted you to know how much I can mess with you and your life. I want you to see just how miserable I can make you. How I can twist things to turn you against your friends. I mean, look at what had just happened. You believed that Lou really had told me about the baby. You left work steaming mad at him, and then probably sat at home crying to either Rhoda or Phyllis about how life isn't fair and how you trusted him and he let you down."

Mary stood there, shocked and angered by his words. Never before had felt both this threatened by someone, and this much actual hate towards someone. Never before this had she even known that she could actually feel hate. "Fuck you," she sternly said and then turned and started for the door. That was one of the first times she had ever said that to someone, but this time had certainly called for it. As a matter of fact, that was the nicest thing she could think to say to him right now.

"You wanna know what I want?"

Mary stopped before the door. She hesitated for a moment, but then finally turned back to him. "Will you stop all of this if I say yes to whatever you're about to ask me?"

"Yes," Greg said.

Mary sighed and completely turned to see him. "What is it?" She knew she was going to regret those words, but whatever it was, it couldn't be any worse than what he was doing right now.

"I want custody of the baby," he said.

Mary laughed. "What?" she nervously asked.

Greg stood up. "My wife found out that she couldn't have a baby. You, however, happen to be carrying mine. I think I want it."

"You can't possibly be trying to bargain a human being," Mary said. Without thinking about it, her hand slid over her abdomin. For the first time, she had really began to feel protective over this baby. "I'm sorry that your wife has to suffer for this, but you don't deserve a child. I don't even think you're capable of acting like a half way decent father."

Greg sighed. "All right, look, I get it. Okay? You don't want to completely give it up. How about visiting rights?"

Mary had to quickly think. "I don't want to give it up because I'm not keeping it Greg! I'm not keeping some bastard child formed from a cheap, filthy affair!"

There was a look betray in Greg's eyes. For the first time, she had seen something in his face, a vulnerablity to him. She had truly just hurt him. "What? You mean an abortion? Just got rid of it?"

"Yes," Mary said.

"I want to be there when you have it done," Greg said.

"You can't," Mary argued. "Its a private procedure, they would never let a man stand in there and watch."

"I don't have to be in the room. I can just stay out in the waiting room."

Mary shook her head. "No!" Her eyes began to water, but she didn't bother to hide it anymore. "This is something that I have got to do alone."

Greg was getting irritated. "Fine!" He went over to her. "I'll help you out then." He raised his hand and punched her. He was going for her stomach, but Mary quickly turned and crouched causing him to hit her sighed as he stood back and watched her. "Just what I thought," he said. "You don't want it gone. You just want me gone."

"And why do you think that is?" Mary stood up straight and warily looked to him. "Right now I am willing to do anythign to get rid of you, even get rid of the baby." She stopped and sniffled as she wiped her eyes. "I don't care if you go out and ruin my reputation, cheapen my name, I don't care. Just as long as you leave me alone. I might even let you hit me once or twice more, anything, just as long as you stay the hell away from me afterwards." She was now just starting to ramble. Desperation and exhaustion were never the best two things to be when in a situation like this.

Greg crossed his arms and looked her over for a moment. "Anything?" he asked raising his eyebrow.

Mary sighed. "What do you want?"

"We're alone right now. Go ahead and see if you can guess."

"No!" Mary quickly snapped. "You already made me the other woman once, I'll be damned if you think you're going to do it again." Mary turned and started to storm out of the room, but he rushed over and grabbed her wrist. Mary froze and then turned back to glare at him as she tried to pull free, but his grip was getting tighter and tighter. She could feel her wrist beginning to bruise. "Let go or I'll scream rape," she warned.

Greg sighed as he let go. "Fine, but this means that I won't be leaving you alone anytime soon. I hope you're happy with your decision."

Mary left the apartment and slammed the door behind her. She had had enough for one night and just needed to go home. The last thing she wanted to think about was how she was about to deal with all of this the next day at work. There was no telling what he was about to do, but she did know one thing now, she could trust everyone but him, even Mr. Grant.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary went to the first place that she had thought to go to. To see the person that she needed to see, that she needed right now. The one that she knew would never betray her, and had never betrayed her.

Standing there at the door, she tried to gather herself before she knocked. It didn't take long, but once she was ready, she went ahead and knocked. There was some noise and soon enough, the door opened. "I'm sorry," she said as soon as she saw him there.

Lou stood there and looked her over. Hair messy, make up stained around her eyes from crying, a bruised shoulder and wrist. "What happened?" he asked in shock. This was not the way he ever expected to see her. Now he truly was worried. In the back of his head, he knew what had happened. It didn't take a genius to narrow down the men that she had been talking about lately, to figure out which one had a reason to hurt her.

"I talked to him," Mary said.

Lou stood there with his mouth agape. "And he did this to you?" Lou asked as he gently lifted her wrist.

Mary just nodded. Lou put his hand on her back and lead her inside and over to the living room. "I really am sorry about earlier. I should have known to trust you more than that creep."

"Its okay. Really." Lou continued to stare at her. He look as if he were trying to figure something out, plan something, "Now, he's staying at the same place right?"

Mary looked up to him with surprise. She had seen this man get angry before. On a good day he would yell at Ted a few times. She had seen him chew out the entire staff before. But the anger that was in his eyes right now, was something that she had never seen before. A lingering hate that was waiting to break loose. It left her in a guessing game as to what he was going to do next, and it scared her. "Mr. Grant, I really think," she started, but got cut off.

"Think what Mary? That I should just ignore what he did?" He paced over towards the coat rack and grabbed his coat. "You know what I think? I think you should tell me where he's at and not worry about what's going to happen next."

Mary sighed in defeat. There was no stopping him, and as much as she hated to admit it, part of her was glad. "Same place as last time. About five or ten minutes away from where I live."

Lou went over and stood by the door. "Tell my wife I'll be back soon." As soon as the door was open, he was gone.

Mary watched him leave, and then leaned her head back on the chair and closed her eyes.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Greg sat on the chair in the room as he stared off into space. The one thing that he wanted more than anything was the woman that had just left him. Something that he knew he could never have again. He wanted to be with Mary, and the fact that she hated him, somehow made him want her even more. What once was a fun little romance was starting to turn into some twisted obsession. A goal set in his mind, one that would not allow him to rest until he accomplished it.

"Greg?"

Greg jumped and looked over towards the door. "What is it Lou?" he asked, making it known that he was annoyed by his presence.

Lou shut the door behind him. "Did you know that before you, Mary had to be one of the happiest people I knew?"

"What about it?" 

Lou walked closer. "I don't think you understand where I'm getting at," he said as he leaned on the back of another chair that was facing Greg.

Greg sat up and huffed. "No, I don't. I would appreciate it if you would please just make your point and get the hell out of here."

Lou stood up and raised his eyebrow. "My point is, you hit her again, even touch her, and I'll make sure that you'll never be able to bother her again. You got it?"

Greg stood up. "That a threat?"

Lou shook his head. "No, just some useful advice from one friend to another."

"I don't need any of your 'advice'."

"Look, just watch yourself. That girl that you just hurt is like a daughter to me. And trust me, I don't put up with any bullshit from punks thinking that they can screw with one of my daughters. She comes to me one more time with any signs of abuse and you'll be lucky just to be alive after I'm through with you."

Greg nodded to show his understanding. Carefully, he walked over to the door and opened it. "I think you've made your point," he said as he motioned for him to leave.

"As long as you understand," Lou said and then left.

Greg stood there and watched him leave before closing the door. "She had better not go running to him any more."

_I understand _

_You need to switch the roles around _

_And despise me for the fact that we didn't last _

_And I will be your punching bag _

_If you'll stay in my past _

_I understand _

_To want to have mature dialouge _

_Is too much to ask _

_And I will be your one regret _

_If you'll stay in my past_

_~ If You'll Stay in my Past by Maria Mena_

**Sorry about the long delay. I was gone on vacation. I hope this one was worth the wait. Let me know what you think. **


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Revelations (part 1)

Mary walked into the news room the next day. Things were normal, or at least seemed normal. Quietly, she hung up her coat and went to sit down at her desk. "Good morning Murry," she cheerfully greeted.

Murray turned and smiled to her. "I think you're about to have a better one," he said.

"Yeah?" Mary asked as she noticed an envelope on her desk. "This have anything to do with it?" She picked it up and examined it.

"No," Murray said looking over at it. The door to Lou's office opened and Greg walked out with a scowl on his face. "But that does." Mary turned and watched Greg walk across the news room and over towards Ted's dressing room. Murray leaned over more towards Mary, "Lou's been yelling at him all morning."

Mary rolled her eyes. She didn't want to admit it, but it did help her. Normally, she wasn't that type of person, the one to want to see other's suffer, but this was different. In all honesty, she wanted to go in there and hug Lou everytime that she would see Greg walk out of his office with the same tortured face. She then turned her attention to the envelope. Carefully, she opened it and took the note out.

_Mary_

_Sorry about the way that I acted last night. Greg told me everything, and I just got upset. I would like to talk to you though, if you are willing to talk to me. _

_David _

Mary put the note back into the envelope and got up to go find David. She went back into the film room and saw him. His back was to her as he studied a roll of film. "David?"

He quickly turned back. "Mary?" He set the film down and walked over. "Did you, um..."

"I got the note," she said. It was hard to be mad at him. She could just imagine what Greg had been telling him, the things that he must have said. "And, I forgive you. I know Greg well enough to know that he must have really twisted things in his favor."

"Well, he told me that you were pregnant with his baby and that you were willing to do anything to get him out of your life." David looked to her. He knew that there was truth to that. Anyone could tell that if they had just watched the two for a few minutes. Deep down, he was just hoping that she wasn't using him.

Mary sighed and looked down. "That is true. I am pregnant, and I would do just about anything to get him to leave me alone." Looking up, she could see David's face drop. "But did he also tell you that he's married? That he got married while we were dating?"

David's head shot up. He had no idea. "Really?"

Mary nodded. "And David, I'm not using you. Trust me, going out to dinner with you a few times wouldn't stop him. He just wants to make me miserable. Pay for leaving him. I could be married right now and he wouldn't care." Sympathetically, she looked to him. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you all of this sooner, its just one of those things thats a bit harder to talk about to people."

"I understand," David said. "You think you would like to try again and go out tonight?"

Mary nodded. "I think I would."

"And I promise you, I'm not married."

Mary laughed. "Good," she said. "Neither am I."

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

That night, and most of the nights following through the next three weeks, Mary and David had been spending a lot of time together. It was the final day that Greg and David would be with WJM. They both walked into the news room hand and hand that morning. Stopping at the coat rack, David helped Mary with her coat.

"Thank you," she said as she turned to him.

"Anytime," he said right before leaning in for a kiss. "I'll see you at lunch," he said as he pulled away.

"Sounds good to me," Mary said and then walked over to her desk.

Neither of them had noticed, but Greg had been watching the scene from the over at the filing cabinet. Every time that he saw those two together, he internally cringed. Their shared kisses were like fingernails slowly scratching down the chalkboard to him. Every part of him longed to have her again. To be able to kiss her, touch her. That baby she was carrying, the one that was slightly beginning to show, was his. He wanted her. He needed her. Without her, he was slowly losing his sanity. After he had hit Mary a few weeks back, he did feel sorry, but at the same time it felt necessary. He acted out on an impulse, an instinct, an urge that he couldn't fight back.

To not bring any attention to himself, he adverted his eyes and pretended to be looking over a file. Truth be told, he didn't even really know what he had pulled out to look at, but as long as he looked busy it didn't matter. He noticed Mary get up and walk out into the hallway. As naturally as he could, he made sure that Murray and Lou weren't watching him and went out into the hallway to wait for her. Most everyone was already in the news room already, so he didn't really have to worry about being questioned.

Mary was walking back from the bathroom. As soon as she saw Greg standing there, she walked as fast as she possibly could. Her attempt was useless though, he grabbed her by the wrist. Although she did try to pull herself free, his grip was just too tight.

"Hey, come on now. Its my last day here." Greg smirked as he looked over to her.

Mary kept her back to him. There was no desire to even see him today. As far as she was concerned. the less she saw him today, the better. "Good."

Greg pulled her back and cupped her face with his other hand. A smug little smile was the first thing that Mary saw when he slowly turned her head to face him. "All I want is a kiss goodbye."

"How dumb do you think I am? I know that even if I did agree to kiss you, you would try and get me to do other things."

Greg let go of her face. "You know Mary, I did something for you. Something that I shouldn't have done."

"You have done nothing for me. At the most you may have taught me that it is possible to hate someone." Mary glared to him. There was nothing in his eyes though, no emotions. The absence of feeling from him truly started to scare her.

"I don't think you have realized this part yet, I don't care about your feelings towards me. All I want is you with me. You can kick and scream and fight all you want, but the only thing I am focusing on is the fact that you are there and in my life."

Mary stood there frozen. Now, she truly knew how far Greg was willing to go to get her. How messed up this man truly was, and how numb he could be to everything around him. Her eyes, slightly widened as they were locked on his. Greg dropped her wrist, but she didn't even notice.

"Now, what I wanted to tell you was that I got a divorce from my wife. I am no longer married. That aspect seemed to bother you, so I got rid of it."

"I don't believe you," Mary uttered.

David stepped out into the hall and saw Greg and Mary. "Hey!" He walked over and stood before Greg. "What teh hell do you think you're doing?"

Greg slowly looked over to David. "Just talking. Why? You think I'm stupid enough to pull something out here? In a public area?"

"Doesn't matter. You just shouldn't be talking to her," David said as he grabbed her elbow. "Come on," he said as he started guiding her back to her desk.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

That night, Mary sat in her apartment. The last conversation that she had with Greg was going through her head. The look on his face was engraved in her mind. Every element of those few minutes she spent with him deeply disturbed her. Even though she knew that he was leaving today, there was an uneasy feeling that had been stuck with her. Right now, just being alone was starting to get to her.

She jumped as soon as she heard a knock at the door. "Its me!"

Mary held her chest as she tried to catch her breath. The only bit of comfort came from the fact that it was Rhoda's voice from the other side of the door and not Greg's. Standing up, she had to take a second to steady herself. "Coming!" she said as she made her way over to the door. "Hey Rhoda," she said opening the door.

Rhoda was about to say something, but stopped and looked to Mary with concern. "Are you all right there kid? You look like you just saw a ghost."

Mary shook her head and motioned for her to come in. She watched as Rhoda carried a small bag over to the couch and sat down. "What's that?" Mary asked as she closed and locked the door.

"I think you should go first this time." Rhoda motioned for her to sit down. "Something happen today?"

Mary walked over and sat down next to her. "Greg," she started. "He, he said something that bothered me."

Rhoda watched her for a second. "Like what?" she asked.

"Well, um," Mary started. She adverted her eyes as she thought back to the exact words that he had said.

Rhoda could see how uncomfortable she was with this and decided to try and help her. "If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to. But there is one thing though." Rhoda waited for her to look up to her. "Did he threaten you?"

Mary honestly didn't know how to take what he had said. Yes, there was a threatening feeling to it, but he never did come out and say that he was going to do something to her. "Sort of. He stated that he doesn't care how he gets me, just as long as I'm there."

Rhoda's eyes widened. "Did you tell anyone?"

Mary shook her head. "No, not yet."

Rhoda stood up. "What are you waiting for? Call the police or something! You can't just sit here and wait for him to do something." Rhoda stood there for a second and calmed herself down. "You know that he meant dead right?"

Mary nodded. Blankly staring, she started thinking about everything that he had done to her so far. Murder did seem a bit out there, considering that he wanted to have her and mentally torture her, but she also couldn't justify completely putting it past him. "And suppose he finds out that I told. Then what?" she asked and then looked up to Rhoda.

Rhoda sighed and sat back down next to Mary. "I don't think you should be alone for the next few days."

Mary nodded. "I know. I think I'm going to go find somewhere to stay. Just until I know that he wasn't serious."

"Did David leave today?"

"Yeah, but he's coming back in two weeks and we're both going away together."

Rhoda smiled. "Well sounds like two are getting serious."

"More so than I expected," Mary said.

"Anyways, too bad he's not in town. You could've stayed with him."

"I'll be fine tonight," Mary started. "If he shows any signs of trying to attack me or whatever, I'll call the police."

"Good," Rhoda said. She then picked up the bag. "Now, onto me. I saw this today and couldn't resist. I think you can use it more than I can though."

Mary took the bag and opened it. "Aww, Rhoda!" she said as she pulled out a little onsie with a frog on the front along with a matching blanket and a tiny pair of green socks.

"Its a bit early, but I saw it on my way home and thought I might help get you started on some things."

Mary leaned over and hugged Rhoda. "Thank you."

"Anytime." Rhoda pulled back. "But you promise, anything happens and you'll call the police?"

Mary nodded. "I promise."

Rhoda stood up. "Well, I have to get going. I have a birthday dinner to go to."

"Have fun," Mary said, still looking over the present.

Rhoda got to the door and stopped for a moment before leaving. "Oh, and Mary."

"Yeah?" she asked as she turned back to her.

"You know, you don't have much, but you do have a little bitty bump there. I would tell Phyllis what's going on before she starts asking questions."

As Rhoda left, Mary looked down and pulled her shirt to tighten it. She did notice a tiny bump, but nothing too much.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Revelations (part 2)

_You belong to me,_

_My snow white queen _

_There's no where to run so lets just get it over. _

_Soon I know you'll see_

_You're just like me_

_Don't scream anymore my love, 'cause all I want is you_

_Forever and ever..._

_ ~ Snow White Queen by Evanesence _

Greg stood in his hotel room. He knew that David had already left Minneapolis. There was nothing that he was completely unaware of, when it came to what was going on with the people at WJM, his main focus though, of course was Mary Richards. The last time that he had left, he knew that he would be back. Giving her space seemed like the best idea at the time. Now, he sees that nothing has changed. She was still bitter towards him. Every attempt that he had made to get back with her was turned down. Every threat he made was pushed aside. Now what? Now what could he possibly do to get his way? To get the only thing that he truly desired.

On the dresser before him, lay a picture of him and Mary together. She was behind him with her arms loosely around his neck. Both were smiling. The memories of what once was, pained him. She was the only reason that he had came back here, and now, what he considered to be his only reason for living, was turning him down. Without even thinking about it, he picked up the picture and studied it. His fingers gently stroked over the image. "I gotta do something," he mumbled to himself. Dropping the picture, he let out an exasperated sigh and looked up at himself in the mirror. Lowering his face, he kept his eyes focused on his reflection. The grin slowly stretched across his face. The ideas were flooding his head, and he liked the thought of each and every one of them. "Not now Greg, let her think she's safe first."

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

_Stop light, lock the door_

_Don't look back_

_Undress in the dark, _

_And hide from you, _

_All of you _

_You'll never know the way your words have haunted me_

_I can't believe you would ask these things of me _

_You don't know me_

_Now or ever_

_Wake up in a dream _

_Frozen fear _

_All your hands on me_

_I can't scream_

_I can't scream_

_You can't escape the twisted way you think of me_

_I feel you in my dreams and I don't sleep_

_I don't sleep_

_I can't save your life_

_Though nothing I bleed for is more tormenting_

_I'm losing my mind and you just stand there and stare as my world divides _

_ ~ Snow White Queen by Evanesence_

Mary stepped into her apartment. The only faint light came in from the window. A soft white light exposed the outlines of the various things within the room. Carefully, she checked the lock and then removed her coat. Everything was all too quiet for her. Objects became more clear as her eyes adjusted to the light. Although she could see better, there was still an erieness that lingered.

As quickly as she could she went and turned on the lights. Greg wasn't there. Every bad thing that she had been preparing herself for, didn't happen. Letting out a sigh of relief, she decided to just get ready for bed.

As soon as she was ready, she stepped out into the living room and got her bed ready. The place, again, was too quiet. This time though, she chose to ignore it. Before she turned the lights off, she cautiously took one last look around the room. Nothing. Her nerves weren't all that calmed, but at least now she would have a better time convincing herself that there was nothing, or no one there with her. She quickly made her way across the darkened room over to her bed and laid down. "All right, go to sleep," she told herself. As she laid on her side, she started to calm down and accept the stillness of the room. Her arm jerked as she felt like something had been crawling on it, then suddenly it hit her. Her eyes shot open as she hesitently lifted her otehr arm and reached over to grab what was on her. A hand. He grabbed her shoulder and forcefully turned her so that she was laying on her back. Narrow, malicious eyes focused on her with a smug grin.

"I told you I didn't care," Greg said.

He climbed over her, his hands pinning down her wrists. She tried to scream, but the fear had somewhat paralyzed her. He leaned down and started kissing her neck.

Mary jolted up, out of breath and sweat dampened hair. She could feel her heart beating rapidly as she looked around and examined the room. "Damn it Greg," she said to herself. It was a dream, or rather a nightmare. It didn't matter what it was called, all it was, was a series of pictures in her head that had developed from her subconcious. She tried telling herself that in order to calm herself down, but it didn't work. Those "images" were things that were currently eating away at her, causing her to be paranoid and slowly and gradually tearing away at her life.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

The next morning, Mary sat at the table. Her weary eyes blankly staring out into space as she gripped onto a cup of orange juice. It was Saturday morning, so she had no where that she had to be, and nothing all that important that had to be done today. She wasn't nearly as jumpy now as she was last night, but something told her that she would be the same way again tonight.

"Hey kid," Rhoda said as she walked through the door. "I can't believe you actually unlocked that thing," she motioned back as she went and joined Mary at the table.

Mary shrugged. "Greg's not a stupid man. He wouldn't do anything in broad day light."

Rhoda sat down and examined Mary. "Did you sleep at all last night?"

"A little," Mary said. She let go of her cup and used her hands to rest her head on. "Just had a dream last night."

"You know Mary, I don't think you should be going on a lack of sleep like this. If you want me to come back later so you can take a nap or something, I can do that."

Mary softly laughed. "No, I'm not as bad as I look."

"Would you like to stay with me tonight?" Rhoda asked.

Mary gratefully looked to her. "Could I?"

"Sure," Rhoda said. She knew what the problem, and that Mary wasn't about to come out and state it. She was afraid, and being alone at night did nothing to help that. "If I were you though, I would make sure to lock that door. Even during the day."

Mary sighed. "I know, I was just waiting for you to come down though. I lock it when I'm by myself though."

"Hi there everyone!" Phyllis cheerfully greeted as she entered the room.

Rhoda nodded as she pointed over towards Phyllis. "See? Bad things do happen when you leave your door unlocked."

Phyllis stopped beside Rhoda and looked down. "Oh look, Johnny Carson's in town.'

Mary looked up to Phyllis. "Before we get into this Phyllis, there's something I need to talk to you about."

Phyllis looked to her with concern as she sat down next to her. "Sure Mary," she then looked back to Rhoda. "I think that means she wants to be alone with me, if you don't mind."

Mary shook her head. "She's fine. Now, please, let me tell you what I need to tell you." All she wanted to do was get this over with.

"Well, if you don't mind her knowing," Phyllis stated. For a minute, she was actually excited to know something that Rhoda didn't.

"I'm the one who told her to tell you," Rhoda said, knowly picking at her.

"Both of you!" Mary snapped. Both Phyllis and Rhoda turned to her with surprise. Mary sighed. "Now Phyllis, I am going to tell you, but you have to promise, no questions and no interrupting me. Promise?"

"Promise," Phyllis said.

"I will be moving out in a couple of months. As soon as I find a new place, I will let you know," Mary started. Phyllis was about to say something, but Rhoda leaned over and put her hand over Phyllis's mouth.

"Go on," Rhoda said.

"Thank you," Mary said. Rhoda took her hand away and Phyllis glared over to her. "Anyways, I need a new place, because I am going to be having a baby. Greg Thompson is the father, but if at any time he shows up here, please, do not let him in. I found out that he is not the man I thought he was."

Phyllis looked to her with sympathy. "Do you think you two can work things out?"

Mary just shook her head.

"Are you sure? Because I really do think you two should try. I mean Mary," Phyllis started.

"Please Phyllis!" she snapped. Mary had had it. Her patience was wearing thinner and thinner each time Phyllis opened her mouth. She knew that she meant well, but the last thing that she wanted to do was to go into detail about what was going on right now. Looking up, she saw that Phyllis was a bit offended. "I'm sorry, its been a rough past few weeks. Greg was married when he was dating me, and the only reason I found out was through his wife and now he's mad at me for leaving him."

"Oh," Phyllis said. "Now I understand." She looked averted her eyes for a moment as if she was uncomfortable with the situation. She looked back to Mary. "I'm sorry about all of this. If you need anything, you know that you can ask me."

"Thank you," Mary said as she forced a small smile.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: And All That Could Have Been (part 1)

Mary lay there in the dark. It was better being up in Rhoda's room with someone rather than alone and nervous over every little thing that happened. There was still that little aprehension lingering in the back of her head though. The fact that he had gone out of his way like that bothered her. Whether he had meant anything by it or not, he had still obviously put a lot of thought into his words.

The worst part though, was that she didn't see this part of Greg when they were dating. More or less, she was starting to blame quite a bit of this on herself. She dated this man and never once noticed that something was wrong. Then, when she did find out about his wife, that was the only thing that she saw wrong. He was a cheater. As of now, that was the least of his flaws.

She began to play with the edge of the pillow case with her fingers. This was one of the first times that she had been able to calmly think about her situation with Greg.

Suddenly, something had occured to her. She began to worry about the baby. What if they turned out completely like Greg? She could handle the similarity in looks, but what about the personality? It was a weird thought, but possible.

There was something else to be afriad of. Even if it wasn't anything like him, would she be able to constantly protect them if Greg decided to just randomly go after them?

She cuold move out to another city, but what were the odds that he was watching her? There was no real way of stopping him from moving to the same city.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Greg sat in the darkest part of the room. The only part where the sun had not revealed itself. There was no emotion in his face anymore. Something happened the night before. A realization that he could not have something. It all had hit him.

The one thing he wanted, the only thing he wanted, he couldn't have. The only thing that he had worked to have in his entire life. It was all gone.

The only thing that he held in his hand was a gun. One bullet was all he had needed, and that was all he had brought with him.

With his head back against the wall, he thought back on a night a while back. The night that he had first taken Mary out to dinner. The night that she had said yes to him instead of David. The night that he had actually won something. The night that he actually felt like a human being. The night he was alive.

Now the prize was off running around with the loser. The thought alone made him want to throw up.

In his mind though, it wasn't David's fault. He could completely understand why he wanted her, why he needed her in his life. The one he held at fault was Mary.

No one ever told Mary that she had to leave him. There was nothing that ever stated that he needed to be with his wife and dump her. He had thought that he had made it clear to her time and time again that he would have done anything for her.

Of course, none of that mattered any more. Nothing mattered now.

"Here goes nothing," Greg said as he slowly lifted the gun to his head. His shaky hand gripped onto the handle as he slipped his finger around to the trigger.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Rhoda woke up and looked over to see whether or not Mary was up yet. Seeing that she wasn't, she tried to be as quiet as she could while she got up and got ready for the day. Surprisingly, Mary slept in until noon that day. As long as it was one of her days off, it didn't matter.

"Morning sunshine," Rhoda said as Mary sat up and looked around.

"What?" Mary asked. She had forgotten where she was for a moment. It was nice to forget her her current situation for a brief amount of time. "What time is it?"

Rhoda, who sat on her bed cutting out pictures from various magazines, looked down at her watch. "Its the bright and early time of twelve fifteen."

"Are you sure?" Mary asked. She had never slept in that late before. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You needed the sleep," Rhoda said. "Trust me, you wouldn't have slept that late if you didn't."

Mary just sat there and thought for a minute. She was right, she did need the sleep. Actually, last night she had slept better than she had in a while. "I guess you're right."

Rhoda looked over and wondered how well she had actually slept. During the night before, she could hear her mumble things about Greg. "Was there anything you wanted to do today?"

Mary shrugged. She was still trying to completely wake up from the heavy sleep that she had the night before. "I don't know yet. Let me go get ready and I'll see." She looked up to Rhoda. "Don't let me stop you from going anywhere though."

Rhoda smirked. "If you haven't noticed yet, I don't exactly have much of a social life. Trust me, I'm not in a big hurry to head out."

Mary rolled her eyes. "All right," she yawned as she got out of bed. "I'll be back in a little bit."

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary walked down the small stairway to her door and stopped the put her key into the lock. As soon as she inserted the key, she realized that the door had already been unlocked.

Frozen there, she stared at the door knob. Her eyes were widened with disbelief.

At the moment, she had no idea what she should do. There was the chance that she had just forgotten to lock the door on her way out. It wasn't very likely, but there was still a chance.

"You have got to stop this," she said to herself. She was tired of being afraid. She was sick of always having to reassure herself that there was nothing there.

With a small amount of hesitation, she opened the door and stepped into her apartment. The place where she had once felt safe and had enjoyed. The place she now feared to be alone in.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Would You Break Me? (part 1)

Mary opened the door and walked into her apartment. Nothing was out of place. As a matter of fact, everything seemed too quiet to be right.

Chills raced down her spine and through out her body as the complete eeriness of the room fell upon her. Something was wrong, there was no evident proof of that, but she knew. She could just feel it within the room.

She had forced herself into the room, and had convinced herself that everything was okay. The charade was over now. Whether it was actually something wrong or just her imagination, she decided that she had to get out of there.

She turned and started for the door.

"Wait!"

Frozen. She stood there. The very voice instantly made her adrenaline rush. "Greg?" she choked. There was no answer, only silence. Cautiously, she turned around. She saw Greg standing there with a gun pointed to her. Now, she regretted ever entering the room.

"Don't worry," he stated. "There's only one bullet and it's not intended for you," he explained.

Mary just watched him as he walked around her. She turned her body as her eyes stayed glued on him while he walked over and shut the door. She was too afraid to say anything to him. She was no expert, but she was pretty sure that if someone had a gun and was ready to use it, that you only spoke when spoken too.

"Well?" he impatiently asked. "Aren't ya gonna ask who it's for?"

"Um, who's uh, who's the uh bullet for?" she barely managed to get the question out.

"Me," he answered. "But there's one catch."

"Yeah?" Mary asked.

Greg smirked to her. "Yes," he said as he apporached her. His eyes stuck on her, piercing into her. "You, are going to be the one to pull the trigger," he explained.

Mary stood there, her eyes stuck on the gun. With only inches between them, the closeness was making her extremely uncomfortable. She could also feel her morning sickness starting up, making everything worse.

"I don't think I can," she carefully argued.

"Are you disobeying someone with a gun?" Greg questioned as he stepped closer to her.

Mary tried to speak, but nothing came out.

"Don't worry," he chuckled. "I would think that you would have learned by now that I like you. Some would say love. Now knowing that, you would never shoot some one that you love would you?" he asked.

Mary shook her head. She knew that he didn't love her though. Love wasn't about always getting the other person to do as you please. His slipping sanity was the only thing that kept her from speaking up.

"Good," he whispered with a sneer. He turned and took a few steps over to the window. He had her right where he wanted her. Desperate for her life and willing to do or say anything to keep it. "Now," he stated with his head down.

Mary turned and looked to him. One word that struck fear within her. She could hear it in his smug tone of voice, he accomplished something. He was on his way to getting something, something that she didn't want to allow to happen. "Yes?" she choked.

Greg turned to her and smiled. His deep disturbing thoughts revealed without any words.

Mary stood there, thoughts racing through her head of the next words that could come out of his mouth. Every single bad situation played through her head. She could feel her heart beating in her chest as her hands shook. Eyes watering as her lip trembled. It was quite obvious to her what he had wanted, and it was obvious as to who was going to get their way.

She kept telling herself to scream. Try and run for it. There was one thing holding her back, she was afraid. He may only have one bullet, but she had no idea how good he was at aiming. If done right, it only took one bullet to take a life.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Rhoda had stood infront of the mirror as she fixed her hair. She was taking her time to try and make sure that she wouldn't get impatient with Mary, who was now beginning to take an awfully long time. This was unusual for her friend, and she was starting to get concerned.

Sighing, she tied the scarf around her head and then hastened over to the phone. She dialed the number and anxiously awaited an answer, an answer that she wouldn't get.

There was something wrong. She knew that Mary would've answered the phone. There had to be something wrong. She knew that she could be paranoid at times, but this time she had a feeling. An umistakable premonition of some ominous event occuring right now. She had to go with her gut feeling.

There was no reason to wait anymore. She hurried out of her room and down the staircase to Mary's appartment.

"Mary!" she called out as she opened the door.

"Hey!" Greg yelled. He took his gun and quickly pointed it up to Rhoda. "Get over there!" he ordered as he motioned to the couch with the gun.

Rhoda's hands went up, as if she were surrendering to him. Without taking her eyes off of Mary and Greg, she slowly went over to the couch and sat down.

"All right," Greg said. He focused his eyes on Mary. "Now, you are going to be the one to do the honors," he explained. Extending his hand, he held out the gun for Mary and waited for her to respond.

Mary's eyes widened as they locked onto the gun. She caught onto what he was saying, and she knew that she couldn't do it. Deep down, she hated his guts, but no matter how much she hated him, how much he had complicated her life and mentally abused her, she could't bring herself to kill him.

Her trembling hand grapsed the gun and held onto it. She had accepted it.

"Good," Greg responded. He went and grabbed a knife from the kitchen and then walked back to stand before Mary. "Now," he instructed. "If you miss me, I stab you and your friend over there. Got it?" he questioned.

"Why are you doing this?" Mary softly cried. She was on the verge of a break down. Tears forming in her desolate eyes.

Greg looked down to her, the smirk faded from his face and was replaced with the first ounce of sympathy that Mary had ever seen in his face. He gently grabbed her chin and lifted her face. "We dated. I gave up my fiancee for you, risked my marriage. I would do anything for you. You kept our baby a secret from me. I would have done anything for you and you left me. You were my only reason for living and you left me. Mary, you took my life away from me already," he explained.

Mary stood there, staring into his eyes. For the first time, he sounded human. There was nothing threatening about what he had said, there was no grin pasted on his face revealing the disturbed fanatasies that he held so close to him. "How did you expect me to react?" she whispered. "You had a wife. You used me. All I was to you was a fun vacation from her, and you know it. Somewhere in that time, you became obsessed," she argued.

Rhoda took the opportunity to sneak over towards the phone and snatch it. She didn't dial just yet, she wanted to wait until the two got louder so that Greg wouldn't hear her as well.

"I tried to explain this to you Mary, but you never gave me the chance. You just kept pushing me away," he replied. The anger was steadily growing within him. "Why don't you just take the gun and do what you've already been slowly doing to me? Go ahead and shoot me you bitch. Shoot me. My life means nothing to me anymore, and I know that you want me dead. We can both have what we want," Greg raised his voice to her as he dropped his hand from under her chin.

Rhoda sat on the couch, trying her best to hide the phone. As Greg grew louder, she started to dial the number to the police and once the phone began to ring, she just held the phone out for the operater to hear.

"I can't do this!" Mary yelled. "I can't kill you! I can't shoot you! Just please Greg!" she begged. There was nothing else for her to do at this point.

"Damn it Mary! Take the goddamn gun and just do it already! Or else I'll fucking stab you! This entire time you've been a bitch to me, making my life more and more miserable and you can't even do one fucking favor for me!" he yelled.

Rhoda took this time to duck down behind the cushions and state the address at which this was going on at. She then cautiously hung up the phone. As she was about to place it back onto the table, she jumped. A shot went off. "Mary!" she exclaimed as she quickly sat up and looked over.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Would You Break Me? (part 2)

Mary stood there, gun in her hand and shock on her face. Pure adrenaline pumping through her veins as she could hear her heartbeat in her chest. Only seconds ago, she had pulled the trigger. On purpose, she had aimed off to the side to try and miss Greg, but she had failed. Instead of hitting the wall or the window, she hit his shoulder.

"You missed," Greg angrily informed her from his spot on the ground where he had fallen back. In reality though, he was surprised that she had even pulled the trigger. There was no way that he ever thought he could actually get her to do it. At most, he thought that it would be possible to get her to trade shooting him for performing another favor for him.

Mary looked down. Her hands were still gripped around the gun. Suddenly realizing what had happened, she dropped the gun and started to step back. Why had she even tried? Why did she even pull the trigger? Now, she regretted it. Knowing him, she knew that he would never let this go.

By now, someone had to have called the police. Gun shots were not something that one could keep secret. That meant that she had to prepare herself for whatever story Greg was going to tell them. The evidence was somewhat against her, he was the one on the floor with a wound in his shoulder. She would throw everything back at him though. The bruises, the verbal abuse, the threats. She wasn't going to be alone either, she knew that there were a lot of people that would back her up. It wasn't as if this were a well liked man.

"Now what?" Mary desperately questioned. She had to brace herself for the worst.

Greg sighed. "Well, it would be stupid for me to do anything to you now. I could just go ahead and tell them that you shot me," he answered. He was tyring to think of all his options, it was just that there weren't many at this point. The damage had been done by Mary and he looked innocent. That was all that mattered right now. There was just one problem though, deep down, he didn't want to get her in trouble. Getting her in trouble meant that he couldn't have her. Locked up behind bars, she could never be his.

The only thing that he could possibly gain from her going to jail is the custody of the baby. His baby. It wasn't her, but it was as close it he was going to get. The only part of her that he would be able to own.

"Right," Mary agreed. There was no use in telling him that he would lose. The last thing she wanted to do was upset him. Until the police showed up, she was left completely vulnerable with and an unloaded gun.

There was a knock on the door causing all three to quickly look over. "The police!"

Mary went over and quickly opened the door to let the three men in. "What happened here?" asked the first one to enter the room.

Mary stood there and watched as the other two entered into the room and looked around. As hard as she tried, she couldn't bring herself to calmly tell them everything that had happened. Instead, she just tried her hardest to not break down. "He came in here with a gun while I was gone," Mary told them through tears.

Greg's head quickly shot up from the floor. "She shot me!" he argued.

The first policeman looked down to him. "Over the phone it sounded more like you were threatening her to shoot you," he stated.

Greg briefly glared over to Rhoda who nervously smiled to him. "Yes sir, that is true," he started. "But, when she first pulled the gun on me, I didn't think she was actually going to do it. She was trying to hold me here against my will and I was just trying to get her to give up. I figured if she realized that she couldn't bring herself to actually shoot me that she would let me go," Greg calmly explained.

Mary coldly stared to Greg. Nothing from him shocked her anymore.

Rhoda hastened to her feet. "He's lying!" she argued. "That man doesn't live here! Mary does! And she found him here this morning. He broke into to her apartment," Rhoda said.

The second policeman sighed and looked over to the first. "Two different stories," he breathed out.

The first one looked over at Mary and Greg. "Call him an ambulance and get him treated. I want you to make sure to get him to the station as soon as possible," he demanded to the third one.

Mary watched as the officer went to the phone and dialed the number. At the moment, she was pretty sure that she hadn't hit him in a bad spot. The blood was all over his shoulder, but he didn't seem to be all that bad off. He was still being himself, lying and arguing.

"And you! You'd better come with us," the officer ordered.

Mary looked to him and nodded. Without even trying to stand up for herself, she followed him out. It was better this way though. Once she got to the station, she could actually tell them what was going on without having Greg interrupt her.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary sat at the table, across from Detective Kinderman.

"Now," he started. His dark eyes were set on her as his folded hands casually rested on the table. "In your words, could you please tell me everything that happened this morning in your apartment?"

Mary nodded. Right now, she was sure that she was probably one of the most excited people to ever be questioned. This was her chance to finally get rid of Greg. She needed to be able to move on once and for all. "I had spent the night up in my friend's apartment and then this morning when I came downstairs to get ready for the day, I saw Greg sitting there, with a gun," Mary explained. For some reason, she started to feel uncomfortable. The paranoid feeling that she was so used to instinctively came back to her. "He started telling me that he was planning on killing himself and that since I had walked in, I had to watch. It then somehow got to him threatening me that he would stab me if I didn't shoot him," Mary informed the detective.

Detective Kinderman sat back and thought the story over for a moment. "Now, why do you suppose he had done this? Did something happen between you two earlier?" he asked.

Now that was a good question. He would never know how happy she was to answer that one. Mary sat forward a bit as she thought back on everything that had happened. From the moment that Greg had entered the office to the last time she had seen him just minutes ago were all images that started playing through her head.

"About four months ago, Greg and I started dating. He came in to work at WJM for a few weeks. While we were dating, I found out that he was married and I told him that we were over. I guess when I told him we were over, I was done with him, but he wasn't done with me," Mary stated. She took a second and looked down at the table. As much as she wanted to tell him what happened, to get Greg in trouble, she would never have an easy time telling anyone what had happened between her and Greg. "A little over a month after he had left Minneapolis, he had to return to work at WJM again. He wanted me back, but he wasn't too aggressive about it, just simple grab my shoulder ask me out for lunch. It was after he had found out that I was pregnant with his baby that he had started..." she trailed off. "Going insane? Maybe? I don't know, but he got scary. He became obsessed. He was waiting for me in the hall at work, he told me that he would sue for custody. When I told him that I was getting rid of the baby, he hit me. Then yesterday he told me that he wanted me, and it didn't matter how he got me, just as long as he had me," Mary said as calmly as she could. It was hard though, her heart was racing and her throat was drying up.

Kinderman nodded. He saw that Mary was getting a bit worked up, so he decided to give her a brief moment before continuing. "If you were so afraid of this man, why didn't you alert the police about what was going on?" he questioned. Kinderman pretty much knew the answer, he just wanted to make sure of what was all involved.

"I was scared. I was scared that Greg would find out and that he would come after me for it," she answered.

Kinderman again nodded, noting everything that she had said. He leaned back forward and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. Mary watched as he scribbled down a few things. "Do you mind if I talk to a few of your friends? People that you work with?" he asked.

"No," Mary replied. "Do you just want a list of names?" "Yeah," he responded. "Um, okay, well, there's Rhoda Morgenstern. She lives in my apartment building. She's the one that I spent the night with last night. Then there's Phyllis Lindstrom, and she lives in the same apartment," Mary was cut off.

Kinderman laughed. "We are capable of finding people Ms. Richards," he informed her.

"It's fine, I just wanted to save some time," he assured her. "Now uh, please continue."

"Well, then there's Lou Grant. Um, Murry Slaughter, David Campbell, and uh, as a last resort, you could use Ted Baxter. I would recommend against it though. He doesn't know much about the situation at all. I actually don't even know if he is aware that Greg and I were fighting," Mary said.

"Thank you, I will probably talk to these people within the next few days. As of right now, there are no charges against you and the shot can be written off as self defense. That could change depending on what we find out from Greg's side and the people we talk to about him, but, I highly doubt it," Kinderman explained.

Mary softly smiled. This was something that needed to happen. The authorities needed to find out about Greg. There was only one question that she needed answered though. "Now, Greg, is he going to be held here? He did trespass, he did threaten, he physically, verbally and mentally abused me."

"Would you like to press charges?" he offered.

"Yes," she plainly answered.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

"Now, Mr. Thompson, could you please give us a brief description of what had occurred this morning at Ms. Richards apartment?" Officer Federman requested as he sat across the table from Greg.

Greg stared to him for a moment as he thought of the perfect thing to say. This was certainly not the time to mess up. "I went to her apartment this morning to come talk to her. Lately, we had been fighting and I wanted to try and talk to her. I got no response when I knocked. The door was unlocked though and I wanted to make sure that everything was okay. Mary then came back to her place, got mad at me and eventually pointed a gun to me and shot me," Greg explained without showing any emotion.

Greg kept his cold eyes locked on Federman as he jotted a few notes down. The perfect thing about what he had said was that there were no lies. They really were fighting, he really did come to find the door unlocked, and Mary really did shoot him. They could never get him on lying.

Federman pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. "I should inform you Mr. Thompson, you do have charges pressed against you. Ms. Richards claims that you trespassed, threatened and abused her," he stated. Looking up from the paper, he watched Greg for a reaction. "Would you agree that any of this is true?" he questioned.

Greg nodded. "You could consider what I did to be trespassing," he answered.

There was something about Greg that made him uncomfortable. Something about the way he was coolly speaking or the blank expression in his eyes. Either way, Federman did not like it. However, it was pretty hard to get someone on the way that they look. And it wasn't that he thought this man was lying, he just felt that there was something else to him. A deeper side to him, perhaps, a darker side. A sinister side that he hides with a crooked smile.

"I have one question for you now," Greg requested. He slightly leaned forward on the table. "Can I press charges against her for the injury?" he questioned as he motioned to the bandaged spot where he had been shot.

Federman nodded. "Yes," he answered.

"Good," Greg responded as he sat back.

_You can see that I swim_  
><em>Through the sea of painful<em>  
><em>You have watched as I pull<em>  
><em>Myself from the floor<em>  
><em>And you were there when I<em>  
><em>Built my tower like pebbles in the rain<em>  
><em>Trying to balance all that I had left<em>  
><em>With what I didn't have anymore<em>

_But would you tear my castle down_  
><em>Stone by stone<em>  
><em>And let the wind run through my windows<em>  
><em>'Til there is nothing left but a battered rose<em>  
><em>Would you tear my castle down<em>  
><em>Stone by stone<em>  
><em>And let the wind run through my windows<em>  
><em>'Til there is nothing left but a battered rose<em>

_If I had another place to go_  
><em>Would you break me, is it that you know<em>  
><em>I have no choice but to rebuild again<em>  
><em>I'm tied so hard I can't remember when<em>  
><em>I last walked free upon these feet of mine<em>  
><em>But I'll draw the line<em>  
><em>There will come a Time<em>  
><em>When I am stronger<em>  
><em>Your words won't hurt any longer<em>

_~ Castle Down by Emilie Autumn_


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Damaged

Mary walked into her apartment. For the first time, she wasn't scared. The police had him. The police had him and there was no chance of him getting out. For the first time in a while, she was safe.

Closing the door behind her, she took a brief look around the apartment. Everything was the way that she had left it earlier. The phone was over on the couch and the blood was still on the floor.

That was when it had caught her attention. The blood. The very blood that she had caused, the blood of the man that had tormented her. The blood of the man that had pushed her far past her limits, far enough to cause her to pull a trigger. Just knowing that the blood was there made her sick to her stomach. At that point, she wasn't sure if it was just her, or if she could truly smell it.

Mary trudged her way over to the kitchen and grabbed a bucket, soap and a sponge. She set the bucket in the sink and poured a small amount of soap in before filling it with water.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Phyllis sat down in her kitchen across from Kinderman. Her hands were clasped around a cup of coffee as she smiled at him. "Detective Kinderman," she said. "Must be an exciting job," she commented with a hint of fascination.

"Well, yes, Mrs. Lindstrom," he replied. He felt as if she were trying to flirt with him. Right now he just needed a few answers and to move on to the next person.

"My daughter, Bess, she had a detective come into her class and speak to everyone," Phyllis started, but was cut off by an eager Kinderman.

"That's very nice Mrs. Lindstrom, but..." he stated.

"Phyllis," she interrupted.

Kinderman rolled his eyes. "Phyllis," he emphasized his correction. "Could we please get on with this? It's very important," he explained.

"I'm sorry," she apologized as she backed off. The look in his eyes had caught her. "What's wrong?" she questioned.

Kinderman sighed. "Were you here at all this morning? Between ten AM and noon?" he asked. He needed to know if she had an idea of what had taken place.

"No," she answered. "I was picking Bess up from one of her friend's houses," she went on to explain. Her eyes closely studied his face. There was something wrong, terribly wrong. "What happened this morning? Between ten and twelve?" she carefully questioned.

Kinderman leaned forward. "Mrs. Lindstrom, there was an inncident here earlier in one of the apartments up stairs. Greg Thompson was shot," he informed her.

Phyllis knew that name. She knew what was going on between him and Mary. However, there was no way that she could allow herself to think what Kinderman was pointing to. Mary couldn't hurt anyone. "You're not saying that Mary shot him are you?" she laughed. "Because I assure you detective Kinderman, Mary Richards would never ever think of touching a weapon. I mean I've seen this woman have a hard time killing a bug let alone a person," she argued.

"Mary Richards admitted to shooting him. She claimed it was in self defense though. Says that Greg had broken in and threatened her," Kinderman stated.

Phyllis sat back and thought it over. That made sense to her. It was still hard to picture, but it made sense. "Is there going to be a trail?" she asked.

"I doubt it," he replied. "I need to gather some information first though, that's why I came over here. I need to ask you a few questions. If we can prove before hand that it was in self defense, then she won't need to prove her case in court," he said.

Phyllis nodded as she took a sip of coffee. "Ask anything," she insisted.

Kinderman pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. "Now," he started as he leaned in. "How long have you known Mary Richards?"

"About ten years," Phyllis responded.

"How well would you say that you know her?" Kinderman inquired.

"If we were in the same room, I could tell you what she was thinking," Phyllis claimed. Of course it was an exaggeration. She wanted to be the one to keep Mary out of court, to save her from any unneccessary stress.

"Hmm..." he hummed as he took down a few notes.

"Did you get that word for word?" Phyllis checked as she slightly sat up and peeked over the table to his paper.

Without lifting his head, he raised his eyes to her. He didn't have to say anything, but he could see that he intiminated her as she lowered her eyes and sat back. "Did you know Gregory Thompson?" he asked, seeming to ignore her question.

Phyllis shrugged. "Being one of Mary's best friends, she did introduce him to me right away. But they didn't date that long so I didn't get to know him too well," she answered.

"But do you have a vague idea?" he inquired.

"I knew about the fighting," Phyllis clarified. "I knew that she was scared of him."

Kinderman looked up in interest. He had already heard Mary's side of the story and this was about to be part of what he needed to prevent a case against her. It was bad to be biased, but he was hoping to keep Mary from any further trouble. He had only spent a couple of hours with her, but he believed her, and he felt sorry for her.

Phyllis took her cue to continue. "She came to me and told me that she had found out that he was married and that he was mad at her for leaving him," she explained.

KInderman nodded as he leaned back and folded his hands. That was what he had needed.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary knelt down over the stain. Her face was pale with worn and tired eyes. Over the last hour of being home, she had gotten sick three times. There had to be something else wrong, she was convinced of that. Upon hearing a knock at the door, she gingerly sat up and dropped the sponge into the bucket. "Who is it?" she called out.

"Rhoda!"

"Come in!" Mary weakly responded.

"I've got a surprise for you!" Rhoda happily announced. After walking in though, her smile was very quickly replaced with a look of concern. "Mary," she gasped and hastened to her side.

"I'm just cleaning," Mary remarked. She knew what was coming next. If she looked half as bad as she felt, then it was only common sense that Rhoda would be a little concerned.

Rhoda bent down and grabbed both of Mary's hands and helped her to her feet. "Come on kid, you need to rest," she instructed as she lead her over to the couch.

Mary sat down and watched as Rhoda walked over and grabbed a glass of water. She knew it was for her. Mary was never one to like the idea of others taking care of her, but she wasn't about to turn it down. The pure exhaustion was setting in. The adrenaline that she had been living off of was gone. The fear that she had allowed to be her life source had temporarily disappeared. "Thanks," she flatly said, accepting the glass.

Rhoda sat down in the chair and watched Mary for a moment. "Ya gonna make me ask?" she impatiently questioned.

"What?" Mary asked as she looked up.

"Come on Mare, what's wrong?" Rhoda asked. Right now, she was honestly considering taking her to the hospital. There was something deeply wrong.

Mary set the glass down on the table and then sat back. "I don't know," she admitted. "I just needed to get rid of the blood. I smelled it when I came in and it made me sick," she explained.

"Why don't you let me finish cleaning up that mess?" Rhoda offered.

Mary shook her head. For some reason, she felt that she had to be the one to get rid of it. She was the one who caused it, and now she had to be the one to take it away.

"You need anything?" Rhoda asked. There had to be something that she could do.

"No," Mary answered.

"Food?" Rhoda suggested.

"I just got sick three times," Mary responded.

Rhoda sat up. "I'm no doctor, but I don't think that's good," she stated.

"I know," Mary agreed. She leaned forward and grabbed for her glass to take a sip. She wanted badly to change the subject. "What was your surpise?" she questioned.

"I think I should wait on that," Rhoda admitted.

"Oh, come on Rhoda. I could use something happy right now," Mary begged. She just needed to keep her attention off of how she looked.

"What if I told you that that something is more like a some one?" Rhoda questioned. She knew that it would irritate Mary, but it would only last a few minutes. Besides, this was something that she had been planning since yesterday night. Mary needed this.

Mary rolled her eyes. "Rhoda! I don't think I'm in any condition to be dating right now," she angrily replied.

Rhoda stood up and smugly smiled to her. "Now see, I thought you would say that," she said as she headed to the door.

Mary sat up and curiously watched as her friend opened the door. "You have some one out there?" Mary nervously questioned. She just continued to watch as Rhoda stepped outside. The last thing she wanted was to see some one, especially some one new.

"Ta da!" Rhoda exclaimed as she stepped back in.

David then walked in. "Hey Mary," he greeted.

Mary's eyes widened. "David," she smiled with excitement. This was someone that she was happy to see. For a few seconds, she had forgotten how bad she felt at the moment.

David walked over to the couch and sat beside her. "I heard what happened. Are you all right?"

Mary stared into his eyes. His arm was around her shoulders, comforting her. "What have you heard?" she questioned.

Rhoda smiled at them. "I think I'm gonna leave you two alone," she announced and then left to go up to her apartment.

David smiled up to Rhoda before getting back to Mary on her question. "Well," he started. "Rhoda called me and told me about the threat that Greg gave you and then she told me to come back down here so that you could feel safe," he told her.

Forcing a small smile of gratitude, Mary nodded. "You didn't have to do that," she said, her eyes beginning to water. "But, I'm glad you did," she confessed.

David leaned down and kissed her forhead. "Anything else wrong?" he asked, noting her appearence.

Mary sat up and looked back to the blood stain. With hesitence, she shamefully looked back to David. "I shot him," she softly choked out through the tears.

Bewildered, he studied her for a moment. "You, shot him?" he exclaimed.

Mary nodded in response.

David looked towards the area in which she had earlier looked. He saw the bucket, but he couldn't see the stain. He told himself that he would have to look for it next time that he stood up. "Greg?" he asked, quickly looking back to Mary.

"Yes," Mary sobbed.

David wrapped her in his arms and pulled her to to him. "All right," he sighed. "You obviously had a good reason. I know you wouldn't just shoot anyone," he stated.

Mary tried to pull herself together for a mere moment, but she had failed. "I don't know what to do anymore," she cried. "I, I can't. No more, just no more," she begged through sobs.

David looked down to her with sympathy. "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you," he promised.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: For Everything a Reason

Two months had passed since Mary had shot at Greg. It had been determined that she was innocent, and that there was no need for a hearing. Greg on the other hand, was going to be tried in court.

Standing before an open box, she carefully placed a pile of books inside and then taped the top closed. This was going to be her last night at this apartment. Rhoda had helped her find an affordable two bedroom apartment that wasn't too far away. Everyone had volunteered to help her move the next day.

It wasn't going to be hard leaving. Sure, this place held some good memories for her, but the bad ones were bad enough to cancel them out almost completely.

Mary walked over and picked up a basket containing some of the baby supplies that she had gathered. A few gifts from Rhoda, a couple from Phyllis, along with random things that Lou, Ted and Murray had gotten her. Pretty much, the only person who hadn't gotten her anything for the baby yet was David. She didn't know why, but it bothered her. It wasn't so much that he didn't get her anything, but the fact that he hadn't acknowledged the baby. There was no conversation at all between the two about it. It was beginning to scare her.

Blankly staring down at the random supplies such as clothes and blankets and stuffed animals, she thought about David. Whether or not this was something that he could handle. Yes, he had been there for her, every second that she needed him he was there. He held her as she cried, took care of her if was sick and made her feel safe if she had a nightmare. He had no problem doing anything for her, but that didn't change the fact that she was having Greg's baby.

"You alright there?"

Mary's attention was brought to the door where Rhoda stood. "Yeah," she answered before carrying the basket over to the pile of boxes.

"I was only gone ten minutes, you could've waited so I could all that," Rhoda stated as she closed the door behind her.

Mary laughed. "Don't worry about it. I'm pregnant, not severely wounded," she responded.

Rhoda laughed. "Come on kid, you're doin' it wrong," Rhoda teased as she walked over to the kitchen and started packing the plates. "When some one offers to do everything for you, you let them," she informed her.

Mary just shook her head. She wanted to say something back, but her thoughts were too crowded with the questions surrounding her and David.

"I know I'm not a psychic or anything, but I can tell for a fact that there is something bothering you. Spill," Rhoda ordered as she set everything down.

Mary looked over to Rhoda and sighed. "I don't think he's ready for all of this," she wearily confessed.

Rhoda raised her eyebrows in suspicion as she walked over and leaned on the counter. She knew who Mary was talking about, it was just hard for her to believe that David wouldn't be ready. "David?" Rhoda tried to clarify.

"Yes," Mary answered as she sat down at the table.

"The same David that once came out here on a moment's notice in the middle of the night because you were freaking out?" Rhoda questioned.

Mary just nodded.

Rhoda stood up. "You mean the one who took a few days off when your morning sickness got real bad so that he could take of you?" Rhoda asked.

Mary put her hand up. "I know what you're doing Rhoda, and you're right," she admitted. "But, he still hasn't talked to me about the baby yet. For the past few months, I don't think he has even mentioned one word about it. Nothing. I'm just afraid that he's trying to pretend that it doesn't exist or something," Mary desperately explained.

"You really think that's it?" Rhoda asked as she walked around the counter and joined her at the table.

"What do you think?" Mary asked.

"Honestly kid? I think you might be overreacting to something that's not even there," Rhoda replied.

Mary sighed in defeat. "Then why else would he be avoiding the topic?" Mary questioned, looking over towards the basket.

"Have you tried bringing it up?" Rhoda implored.

"Yes, but he doesn't say anything about it. I told him that the baby had started kicking, he congratulated me and then moved on to another subject," Mary stated as she turned back to Rhoda.

"Maybe he's afraid that you'll start thinking about Greg if you two talk about it," Rhoda suggested, hoping to keep Mary optimistic.

"I'll talk to him tonight about it. I'm supposed to have dinner at his place," Mary responded.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary walked down the narrow hallway at the hotel that David was staying at. Most of the time, she had loved going to see David, but tonight was different. She was currently preparing herself for the worst. Each situation possible had been playing through her head. If Rhoda was right, then everything would turn out good and she would be able to tell him that she was getting better now. On the other hand, if she was right, she had no idea what she was going to do. This was someone that she had grown attached to, someone that she had actually loved, and if she were right about him not being ready, that would all have to end.

Here was there, and here was her moment of revelation. The night that she would find out what was really going on in David's head. "Hi," she happily greeted as David opened the door. The smile was forced upon her face as she stepped into the room. The quicker she could get this out of the way, the better. There was no need for anxiety and anticipation through out the entire dinner.

"How are you?" David asked as he grabbed the plates off the cart.

Mary stood back and watched. "I actually have something that I need to talk to you about, and I need you to be honest with me," Mary responded. The smile was replaced by a look of concern.

David paused as he looked to her. "Alright," he said as he slowly walked over to her. That phrase was never good to hear. "What is it?" he asked, grabbing her arms.

Mary caught him staring into her eyes, searching for something. "How do you feel about the baby?" she blurted out.

David stopped and stared into her eyes. That was a question that he didn't know how to answer. Every time that he thought about her and that baby, he thought about Greg, Greg's baby. Everything that Greg had done to her came flooding to through his mind. Somehow, subconsciously, a part of him had gradually started to blame the baby for everything that had happened.

Mary saw his hesitation and nodded. "I see," she sadly whispered.

"Look," David pleaded to keep her attention. "You know that no matter what happens, I'll be there for you. And I'm sure that once that baby is born and I get to know it, I'll feel differently," he offered.

"Is it because it's Greg's?" Mary questioned.

David sighed as he let dropped her wrists from his hands. The very thought of what he was about to tell her disturbed him. "Yes," he admitted as he adverted his eyes. He couldn't bare to look into her eyes right now, to see what she was feeling. "It reminds me of him," he confessed. "I know that it's wrong, but that's just how it is," he explained.

Mary sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair. "You know, I felt the same way when I first found out that I was pregnant. I resented Greg and the baby and I was scared," Mary stated. She sat down at the table and looked up to him. "But, I got over it. I actually love this baby now, and I have learned to accept what happened between Greg I. I don't forgive him, and I still hate him, but I'm not going to let it control every aspect of my life," she said with tears beginning to form in her eyes.

David looked over to her. "I'm sorry, I just can't think that way about it yet. I don't mean to hurt you, but every time I hear about the baby, think about it, see your stomach starting to show, I am reminded of the fact that Greg took my chance. He got the relationship and he's the one who gets to father your baby. The one who abused you and tormented you go to do everything that I wanted to do before I even had a chance," he explained with his voice steadily rising. The jealousy was raging within him and showing itself through his eyes as he watched her.

Mary did her best to hold back all the tears. "What do you want me to say to that?" she sharply asked. "You know that I wished this was someone else's baby. You know that if it were at all possible I would go back and make sure to go out with you instead of making the mistake of going out with him," Mary defended herself as she finally allowed herself to cry. "There's nothing I can do though," she softly added.

David briefly closed his eyes in attempt to shut out the guilt that he was feeling. "I love you Mary!" he stated. Opening his eyes, he calmed himself down and stood before Mary. "Don't you understand? It's hard for me to see you like this because I love you," he said.

Mary stood up and took his hands in hers. "I can't change what's happening. I know that you love me, and I love you too, but as of a few months ago, I'm part of a package deal. Either you take both me and the baby, or you take neither," she said.

David stood there frozen, he couldn't speak. His mind went completely blank as he tried to scramble to find the words to say.

Mary looked to him with understanding and nodded. "I see," she said as she let go of his hands. "You don't have to show up tomorrow if you don't want to," she said as she walked out.

David just stood there and watched as she closed the door behind her. He wanted to stop her, to tell her to stay, but he didn't. Instead, he just let the woman he loved walk out on him. He would go tomorrow and help her out, it would be awkward between them, but it would give him a chance to think through what he wanted to say and to try and decently apologize.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary walked into her apartment and closed the door behind her. As she passed the couch, she tossed her purse onto it and hastened to the bathroom to get changed and ready for bed. As far as she was concerned, this was enough. There was no need for this night to go on any longer.

A knock at the door interrupted her and stopped her in her tracks. Reluctantly, she turned around and trudged over to the door. She had it set in her mind that when she opened that door, she was going to see David. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, she hoped it was. Just knowing that he would come after her would make tonight seem like it wasn't a complete waste. To her surprise though, and to her dismay, it was Detective Kinderman. "Hello," she weakly greeted.

"Hello Ms. Richards. I just wanted to be real quick. I'm on my way back to the station, but I have some news for you," he explained.

"Would you like to come in for a moment?" Mary offered.

Kinderman held his hand up. "No, I just wanted to tell you that we won't be needing you to speak against Mr. Thompson in court," he started.

Mary's eyes widened at the announcement. "Oh?" she asked.

"He um, he killed himself today," he went on to explain.

Mary lowered her head and nodded. "I see," she responded, lifting her head back up.

Kinderman stood there for a moment and pondered whether or not he should give her the note that was left to her. He had already sent the note left for his wife, so he figured it was only right that Mary was able to see hers too if she wanted. "Before he did it, he wrote out a note to you," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the white crumbled envelope.

Mary eyed the letter. There was a sudden curiosity brought on by it's presence, but she didn't know if she really wanted to see what he had to say in his final hours. Without saying anything, she reached out and accepted the envelope. Kinderman stood there for a minute to see if she was actually all right with all of this. There was no facial emotion for him to go off what so ever, just a blank frozen stare as her fingers slightly caressed the sealed part.

"Good night Ms. Richards," Kinderman said.

Mary quickly jerked her head up. "Uh, good night, Mr, Detective Kinderman," she called out as he left. She was too flustered by the letter to think straight. She had to read it, she had to know. Without hesitating, she hurried up to Rhoda's apartment and knocked on the door. "Rhoda? It's important!" she urgently stated.

As soon as the door opened, Mary walked passed her and sat down on the bed. There was no need to tell her what she was about to do, Rhoda would figure it outAll she had to do was wait patiently as her friend closed the door and came back to join her. "What's ya got there?" Rhoda questioned as she motioned to the envelope.

Mary nervously looked up to her. "Greg's note. He wanted me to know why he killed himself," she answered.

Rhoda returned a look of disbelief and slowly sat down next to her.

"I didn't want to be alone when I read it," Mary stated as she began to open it.

"I don't blame you," Rhoda commented.

Mary quickly ripped the letter out of the envelope and unfolded it. No need to waste any time. "Mary," she started reading out loud. "As you know, I have thought of you often. It's quite a bit of an understatement, but you get the point. I have something to say though, something important. I am sorry. The more time I have had to think about everything, the more I find that I truly am a hypocrite. I said I loved you, and I did, however, I started to confuse love with obsession. You were the only person who ever really made me happy, hell, I didn't even know what happiness was until I met you. You were my everything. When you left me, you also took with you everything that gave my life any meaning to me what so ever. Then, the baby, my baby, you told me that I could never see my own child. That person was about to be the only proof that we were ever together, the only proof that I was once a happy man. You pushed me over the edge Mary. You took everything from me and expected me to understand. Well, I don't and I never will. All of my love and jealousy was converted to anger and taken out on you. Like I said, I am sorry, but I never will understand your ways of torturing me. Now, here I am, getting ready to go to prison because you shot me. Congratulations Mary, you win. You gave me the world and then took it away and ruined my life. You win. Funny thing is, I still love you."

Just to make sure of what she read, Mary silently reread the letter to herself. With tear filled eyes, she looked over to Rhoda. "I won," she said before beginning to sob.

Rhoda gave her a look of sympathy as she reached over and embraced her.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: For Everything A Reason (part 2)

Mary stood in her almost empty apartment. The only things left were what came with the place and a few random boxes of her belongings. She had been carrying a few small things down to the truck, but with everyone there helping out, it didn't take all that long to clear out an apartment.

She strolled over to the window where she looked out to the street. For a moment, she watched as David and Lou carried a chest onto the truck while Phyllis stood talking to the truck driver with Murray stepping off the truck with Ted following him, and most likely, annoying him.

"You think maybe I can get Phyl to give me this place now?" Rhoda asked as she entered the room and interrupted Mary's thoughts.

Mary turned to her. "I think we're almost done here," she flatly stated and then went back to looking out the window.

"Looks like it to me," Rhoda responded. With concern, she walked over to Mary and stood beside her. "How are ya holdin' up?" she questioned.

"Pretty good," Mary replied. There was nothing to really feel anymore. Greg was dead, so there was no more fear or anything from him. She felt a bit guilty over his suicide, but she knew that he would go off the deep end some day. Then there was David, the man whom she thought loved her enough, but couldn't handle the baby. She was going to have to let him go. Staying with him until the baby was born would only make the separation harder when the time came.

Last night, it was all she could think about, whether or not she should break up with David. After everything he had done for her, everything he went through to help her. Should she just let him go? On the other hand, who was she to make him deal with the after affects of another man? The more she thought all of this through, the more she realized how one sided this relationship truly was. He was there, helping her, nursing her back to health and helping her cope with the damage while all she was doing for him was giving him her problems.

"Have you and David talked yet today?" Rhoda inquired. Earlier, she had heard David asking Lou if Mary had talked to him about what happened between them last night. After only hearing Mary's side and knowing David, she felt that Mary should at least talk to him and see what he wanted to do before just leaving him out of her life.

Mary shook her head. "I wanted to wait until later. I did tell him that he could stay at my place tonight so that will give us some time," she explained.

Rhoda smirked. "You don't wanna break up with him," she observed.

Mary turned to her. "Right," she stress-fully responded. "And why is it that you think that?" she questioned.

"Because, you wouldn't be standing here watching him and then inviting him to your place if you really wanted to get rid of him," Rhoda explained.

"It's not that easy," Mary sighed as she went over to the kitchen to grab one of the last boxes.

Rhoda remained in her spot and crossed her arms. "I'm sorry Mare, but I think you really should reconsider all of this. I know that you're having a hard time, but you were doing better when you two were seeing each other all the time," she protested.

Mary sternly looked to her, and then gradually softened her expression. "I know," she breathed out. "But it's not fair to him to keep him in a one sided relationship," Mary argued.

Rhoda considered what she was saying, but still felt that she should rethink all of this. "Don't you think that if he felt that he should leave, that he would have done it by now?" she implored.

"What makes you think that he would have made the choice to leave me? I mean he even stayed with me when he didn't think he could handle a baby," Mary responded.

"That's what I mean!" Rhoda replied as she threw her arms out. "He did everything he could to stay with you! He stayed with you when Greg tried to talk him out of it, when Greg was harassing you, when he knew that you were already knocked up," Rhoda explained.

Mary's shoulders slumped as she began to take in everything that Rhoda told her. She was right. She was starting to think that maybe while trying to be fair to him, she was being unfair by taking everything away from him. "I should go talk to him," she said as she left the room.

"Good!" Rhoda replied as she stood there and watched her leave. She knew that Mary needed him, and that he needed her.

O o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary walked outside to see a David and Lou talking to each other. She knew that what happened between her and David was no secret anymore. It actually wouldn't have surprised her if it were common knowledge amongst everyone out there. It bothered her a tiny bit, but not so much that it made her uncomfortable. "David?" she called as she walked up behind him. David turned around and Lou peeked over to Mary. "You have a minute?" she requested with a sincere smile.

David nodded. "Yeah, sure," he responded and then followed Mary back towards the house where they could talk without everyone listening. The entire time walking he had resisted the urge to put his arm around her, or even just on her back. The smile had told him that she was okay, but the last thing he wanted to do was make the wrong move.

Mary stopped and turned to him as she brushed her hair back with her hand. "Did you hear about Greg?" she carefully asked.

"What?" he asked. He was a but disappointed, the way that she brought him over there, he thought they were about to talk about them. Instead, they were about to discuss one of his enemies.

Mary placed her hands on her hips and looked down while she let out a small, almost nervous laugh. "He killed himself," she announced lifting her head back up. "I got a letter from him, basically blaming me for his insanity and that I led to his suicide."

David didn't know how to react. Carefully watching her as she looked off to the side, he could see some sort of guilt in her eyes. Last night, he had heard this woman say that she hated Greg. He had been with her when she had felt threatened by this man and had heard her talk about how she wished he had never even met her, and here she was, feeling guilty over his self inflicted death.

It didn't take a genius to know that Mary had a hard time being mean to anyone. He could figure out that her getting any sort of blame on anyone's death would bother her.

"You know that you have nothing to feel guilty about," David stated. He had to break the silence somehow.

Mary turned her head as a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "I know," she sighed. "But, its still hard to hear."

"Will you miss him?" David questioned. It could have been the wrong question to ask, but it would certainly get her to start thinking a little differently about the situation.

"No," Mary quickly replied as she shook her head. "The man lied to me, used me, mentally and physically abused me, threatened me, broke into my home, held me hostage and stalked me," Mary listed as she thought back on everything that had happened.

"And he technically cheated on you," David added.

"Right," Mary responded, in a daze.

Lying. Used her. Mental abuse. Physical abuse. Threats. Breaking and entering. Taking hostage. Stalking. Cheating. Not all of them were illegal, but they were all against her. Nine crimes that Greg had committed.

Mary focused her attention back onto David. She wanted to speak, but nothing came from her mouth.

David saw her struggling to speak. "Don't," he requested. "First, I want to tell you something. Even if you don't believe me, no matter what happens, I will be there for you."

Mary nodded. She did believe him. "You know, I could've avoided all of this if I had just taken the time to ask a few questions, see who really gave me the flowers," she mentioned.

"And if I could have just gathered my courage for a single moment," David added.

Mary smiled to him. There was one thing that did come from all of this. Even if it was hard for anyone else to see the bright side, she knew it was there. "Although, I would have never learned how much you cared," she stated.

"One hell of a way to learn," David responded.

Mary shrugged. It was what it was. There was nothing that she could do about the past. Greg was gone now, and she was going to be damned if she were give him the power to continue to ruin her life. "I'm just happy that its done and over with," she softly stated as she looked out over to the side. The only bad effect that he had left on her was the fact that she would no longer be able to easily trust people. In a sense, he had forced her to grow up a bit.

"Well," David said, ending the small silence. "I had better go help finish up. You wanna go out to dinner tonight? My treat," he offered.

Mary smiled to him. "I think I would like that," she said.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Need You Now (part 1)

Mary sat on the couch in her new apartment as she read. She was now nearly eight months along and sharing the place with David.

There was a knock on the door that disturbed the silence of the room. "Who is it?" Mary called out, even though she had a good idea of who it was.

"Rhoda!" Rhoda answered from the other side of the door.

"Hold on," Mary responded. She set her book down and took her time getting up and walking over to the door.

"Looks like the place is coming along here," Rhoda said, looking around the place as she walked in. Each time she went there, no matter how short of a time period between visits, the place seemed different. There was always something new done to the place.

"Thanks," Mary smiled as she closed the door.

"So, how long is Davy, the lover boy supposed to be gone?" Rhoda asked as she set her purse down on the table by the door and then headed over to the couch.

"Just tonight, and Rhoda, thank you for spending the night here. I just can't get used to sleeping in an empty apartment again," Mary said as she went over to join her.

"Anytime. I actually like it better here than I do my own place," Rhoda replied.

"Didn't you get my old place?" Mary implored. She could have sworn that she heard Phyllis mention something to Rhoda about the possibility.

"Nah, Phyl found a replacement for ya. A real nut job if ya ask me. The other day, the lady came up to my place to ask if she could borrow some sugar," Rhoda explained.

"So? What's wrong with that?" Mary inquired.

"Because, while most people use that for baking, she had to have the sugar in cubes so that she could finish building her fort," Rhoda stated.

Mary softly laughed. "Have you seen it?" she questioned.

Rhoda nodded. "Yeah actually. I had to go down and help her keep one of the walls steady while she started the ceiling to it. It's actually kinda impressive if ya think about it. A life size fort build outta sugar," she said, truly thinking about it.

"It's different," Mary agreed. On that note, she wanted to change the subject. There had been something that was kind of bothering her."How's Phyllis doing? She hasn't been by here in a while," she implored.

Rhoda shrugged. "Her usual. Bess is getting ready to start high school so I guess Phyl is trying to give her some sort of crash course in something," she replied.

"Really?" Mary asked, trying to think of what Phyllis would be trying to teach Bess.

"What else would you call teaching her how to do make up, fix hair and be popular?" Rhoda questioned.

"I don't know. Anyways, what do you say we go out and get dinner?" Mary asked. She was starting to get hungry, and for some reason fidgety.

"Sounds good to me," Rhoda said as she stood up to go grab her purse.

"Good," Mary said, following her.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

"Sorry we had to come home early," Mary said as she entered her apartment. She had been feeling sick and wanted to come home early.

"Don't worry about it kid," Rhoda assured her as she followed her in and closed the door behind her.

Mary forced a small smile. "I'm still sorry though. I know that you were looking forward to watching Casablanca," she said.

"If you're not feeling good, you're not feeling good," Rhoda replied. She made her way over to the kitchen and opened the fridge to look for something for dessert.

"Thanks," Mary responded as she went and sat down in the kitchen.

"I guess you do what you gotta do," Rhoda commented as she continued to search the fridge.

"Right," Mary answered, starting to get a bit irritated. This was not new to her, she knew that Rhoda wasn't about to let it go, and she just wasn't in the mood for it.

Rhoda, who hadn't caught onto Mary's mood quite yet, closed the fridge and sat down with a small cup of strawberries. "I mean, I know it's not everyday that you get to see Humphrey Boghart on the big screen, and I really do believe that he would make you feel better," she stated.

"Alright! Let's go!" Mary snapped. With a huff, she stood up and started for the door.

Rhoda stood up and followed her. "I'm sorry Mare. No, we don't have to go. Really," she said.

"All right," Mary sighed. Lowering her head, she pinched her nose between her eyes.

"Hey, Mary? Are you all right there? Ya haven't been yourself since we got to the restaurant," Rhoda questioned as she approached her.

"Just tired I guess. I've been worn out a lot lately," Mary answered and then looked up to her friend. She could see how concerned she was, and forced a smile to try and let her know she was fine.

"Understandable," Rhoda responded with a nod.

A moment of silence fell between the two before Mary yawned. "I think that I'm just going to go ahead and go to bed," she stated.

"Okay. I'll see ya in the morning then," Rhoda said. As she watched her go off to her room, she started to wonder whether or not she was really all right. She knew that she wasn't feeling good, and she did expect her to not completely be herself, but there was something even more off about her tonight. There seemed to be more tension or something.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

It was the middle of the night when Mary's eyes popped open. A sharp pain went through her back. That was the moment that she knew that something was wrong.

As carefully as she could, she pulled herself out of bed and slowly made her way over to the door and left the room. "Rhoda?" Mary whimpered as she entered the living room. The pain was starting to spread through out her abdomen.

"Yeah?" Rhoda asked, sitting up. She hadn't been sleeping all that well, so any noise would have woken her up. It was as soon as she saw the look on Mary's face, the fear and discomfort, that she knew she had to be worried. "Mary? What's wrong?" she questioned.

"I don't know," Mary confessed, near tears.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Need You Now (part 2)

Mary was admitted to the hospital. She had gone into labor, meaning that her baby would be born premature. Right now she scared, scared for the life of the baby. Everything was happening so fast that she had no idea what to do about anything anymore.

Although David wasn't there, Rhoda stayed with her. She was doing her best to keep her calm, but it seemed like every attempt was quickly shot down.

"Ya know Mary, it's not like the baby has absolutely no chance right now. There is a chance," Rhoda informed her.

Mary looked over to her. She tried her hardest to be positive, but it wasn't going to happen anytime soon. "I wish I could believe that," she said.

Rhoda sighed. "Look, I am fine Mary, aren't I?" Rhoda questioned as she gestured to herself. "There is nothing wrong with me."

Mary blankly stared to her. "Yeah, but you're not the one having the baby right now," Mary pointed out to her.

"Right, but I was born four weeks early," Rhoda stated.

Mary started to breathe harder from a contraction. "Really?" she strained to ask.

Rhoda leaned over and grabbed her hand. "Oh yeah. You could call and ask my ma if ya don't believe me," she replied.

Mary took a moment before sitting back and calming down. She was still not convinced. "You think you could try calling David again?" she requested. The first time that Rhoda had tried calling him, there was no answer. She left a message for him, but she would feel better if Rhoda actually got to talk to him.

"All right kid," Rhoda said as she stood up. She started for the door, but turned and looked back to Mary. "And remember, everything's gonna be okay."

Mary smiled to her. "I'll try," she responded. As soon as she was gone though, Mary's smile faded. "I hope you're right," she softly whispered to herself.

It was hard to believe coming from someone that had never been in this situation before that everything was going to be okay. Sure, Rhoda had said that she was born early, but that was also Rhoda. She was willing to say anything to get Mary to calm down at this point. Besides, there was no way that she could possibly understand the fear and anxiety that she was going through right now.

Mary laid her head back and rested her hands on her belly. For a moment, she just sat there in the silence. Thinking. Then suddenly, her eyes wandered down to her belly. "Why do you insist on scaring me like this?" she asked.

O o o o o o o o o

Five hours had passed. Mary was just about to have the baby, so Rhoda was sent out into the waiting room. She had been able to get through to David and told him exactly where to go when he got there. The only problem was that she didn't know when he was supposed to get there. He was out in Seattle and had to catch a flight to Minneapolis. When she talked to him, he promised to catch the next one out, but neither of them knew when that was.

"Rhoda?"

Rhoda turned and saw David standing there at the door. Smiling, she stood up and walked over to him. "You made it!" she announced.

"Yeah. How's Mary?" David implored. He was still out of breath. The elevator was taking too long for him, so he decided to take the stairs.

"She's having the kid right now as we speak," Rhoda answered.

David just nodded. He saw something in Rhoda that he had never seen before, worry. Most times, between her and Mary, she was the one to just shrug things off. Now that she wasn't this time, it scared him. "Did the doctors say anything to you that I should know?" he implored.

Rhoda shook her head. "Not yet, they like to keep everyone in suspense," she remarked.

David heavily sighed. "So all we do now, is wait," he said to himself.

Rhoda looked over and watched him for a moment, trying to figure out how scared he really was. All he did was go and sit down. His glossy eyes were fixated on the white wall across the room. She decided that it was time to go talk to him. "Ya know she'll pull through. Right?" she asked.

David peeled his eyes from the wall and looked up to her as she sat on the arm of the chair. She was giving him a reassuring smile, but it didn't make him feel any better. "Physically, sure, but what about mentally?" he questioned. "If anything goes wrong, after everything that has happened," he stated.

"Well David," Rhoda started. She wanted to argue, to tell him that he was dead wrong, but she couldn't. If something were to go wrong, Mary would lose it. Maybe not permanently, or maybe not severely, but she still didn't deserve it. "Then I guess you'll have to be strong for her," she flatly informed.

"Right," he weakly responded.

Rhoda stood up and walked back over to the other side. Neither of them wanted to talk. All they could do was think about the current situation.

It was odd. The room seemed silent, yet there were other people in there. David knew that they had to be talking, there had to be some sort of activity going on around him, but he couldn't bring himself to pay attention to it. Instead, for a few moments, he refused to acknowledge the rest of the world around him. He had to prepare himself.

If the worst were to happen, then Rhoda was right, he would have to be the one to step up and be strong. He had to be the one to show Mary that it was going to be okay, to help get her through the rough patch.

"David!" Rhoda called.

David snapped out of his deep thought and brought himself back to the world. "What?" he asked.

Rhoda stood before him. "The nurse. She said you can go see Mary," Rhoda explained.

David looked over and saw the nurse standing in the doorway. Without saying anything, he stood up and followed her down the hall to Mary's room.

He stepped into the room and saw Mary laying there. Her hair was still wet and sticking to her forehead, she looked upset. "Mary?"

Mary looked over and forced a slight smile. "You made it," she stated.

David cautiously walked over and kissed her on the cheek. Right now, he was bracing himself. "How are you doing?" he inquired as he sat down beside her bed.

"Tired," she answered, holding back tears.

"The baby?" he gently asked.

Mary looked down as she started to cry. It was as if she were trying to shy away from him. "They didn't let me hold him," she cried.

David left his seat and sat down on the edge of the bed and held her. He wasn't about to ask her why, he could figure it out on his own. Whether the baby was dead or just in need of urgent care right away, he would find out sooner or later.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Need You Now (part 3)

Mary sat there in David's arms. Her crying had slowed down, but the thoughts still lingered. The very fear that she might walk out of that hospital without her son still circled her head, and she couldn't stand it.

Yes, it was the son of the man who tortured her, the son of the very man that tried to kill her, but it was still her son.

David could feel that she had stopped sobbing. Looking down, he thought for a minute about whether or not he should finally ask her what had happened. He knew that no matter what, he would find out sooner or later, but he figured the sooner, the better. "What happened?" he gently implored.

Mary sat up and dried her eyes. "I don't know," she admitted. Everything had happened so fast. She remembered them telling her that she had a son and then the next second they're rushing him out of the room. There was something wrong though, something that she missed. Her eyes widened. "He didn't cry," she gasped.

David could see it in her eyes, the anxiety and panic starting to form and surface. "Listen, he's not dead. You would have known by now if he were," he explained, trying to keep her calm.

"You're right," she responded as she looked down. They would have had to have told her by now if he had died right away. It wasn't something that they could cover up for very long.

The doctor poked his head into the room.

"Yes?" David asked as he nervously turned and looked to him.

"Are you the father?" the doctor casually asked.

"Yes, he is," Mary answered for him.

David briefly smiled to her and then looked back to the doctor. As bad as the situation could be seen, her reference to him being the father made him happy.

"May I please speak to you out in the hall for a moment?" he requested.

The expressionless face made him feel uneasy as he stood up and made his way to the door. The entire time he was preparing himself to hear the worst. Once he was out in the hall, he waited while the doctor came out and closed the door behind him. "What's going on?"

"He's not breathing on his own right now. We've got him on a ventilator, but if his lungs don't get any stronger soon, we'll have to take him off," he explained as gently as he could.

David let out a heavy sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I see," he responded. There was nothing to actually say to that. He himself was having a hard time comprehending it all. Even worse yet, he had to be the one to go in there and tell Mary what was going on. He knew that she wouldn't take it well. "I'd better go tell her," David said and then quietly went back into the room.

Mary sat there, anxiously watching the door. Waiting for someone to come in and finally tell her what was going on with her baby. Her eyes lit up upon David's entrance.

David stopped as soon as he saw her sitting there waiting. She looked as if she were truly expecting the best. Of course, that was one of the reasons that he loved her, she was always so positive, so happy. He hated himself for what he was about to tell her. He was about to crush her and he couldn't stand it. "Mary," he breathed out.

Mary saw that it was bad news and sat back. "Yeah?" she nervously replied. She had to brace herself, although it didn't matter how much time she had to get herself ready, she knew that if it were truly that bad, she would never be able to handle it.

"He's not breathing on his own. If he doesn't start soon, they're going to take him off the ventilator that's currently keeping him alive," he explained.

Mary just looked down. She sat there and waited to feel something, but there was nothing. It was all too much, and she snapped. Now, instead of feeling anything at all, she made herself numb. She shut down.

David sat down next to her and rubbed her back, but she didn't react at all. Nothing. It worried him, but there was nothing that he could do about it.

O o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary stood there, staring at her little boy hooked up to a machine. Never had she pictured this, never had she expected this. Back when she found out about him, her hardest thing was getting over who the father was, getting over the guilt. Now, it was hoping that he would live to see tomorrow.

"Tomorrow we get to see whether or not we'll be taking him home," David mentioned.

Mary nodded. "I know," she replied, her voice soft and raspy. As much as she wanted to know if he was going to be alright, she was dreading tomorrow. It could either be the day that her baby made it, or the day that she lost him.

David looked to her with sympathy. She had lost all hope at this point, and it broke his heart. His and Rhoda's conversation came to mind though. She told him that he would have to step up and be the strong one, and she was right. Now it was his turn to try and be positive.

"He's going to make it," he announced.

Mary just looked back to him with confusion. "How can you be so sure?" she questioned. Over the past few days, she had been getting herself ready to deal with losing him, and here David was convinced that they would be able to take him home.

"If he has any of his father in him, he's going to be completely determined to stay with you," David explained.

Mary forced a smile. It was a good attempt. She wasn't convinced, but he was trying, and right now, that was all that counted.

The more she thought about it, he really had been trying so hard this entire time to keep her together. Every night he was there with her when she fell asleep and every morning he was there when she woke up. When ever she got scared, or the doctor would tell her that the baby still needed help breathing, he was there to wipe away t he tears and try to offer some bright outcome that could happen.

Leaning back, she rested her head on his chest. Instantly, she could feel his hands grabbing her arms and securely holding her. "It'll be okay," David reassured her before kissing her on the forehead.

"I know," Mary responded with tears forming in her eyes.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: My Happy Ending

Rhoda walked into the room with a teddy bear and a couple balloons. "Hey kid," she greeted.

Mary looked up to her from the bed and smiled. "Hi," she greeted.

Rhoda set the gifts down on the table and looked around. There was something missing. "Where's Davy?" she questioned. Every time that she had been there, he was there with her. The room seemed somewhat empty without his presence.

"I told him to go ahead and go into work today," she answered. "I thought that he could use a break from all of this," she explained herself. Even though he hadn't been complaining or showing any signs of not wanting to be there, she felt bad about it.

Rhoda sat down in the chair next to the bed. "You don't get a break," she stated.

"So?" Mary asked.

Rhoda shrugged. "Well, maybe he just wanted to be there for you," she suggested.

Mary looked down and sighed. "Yeah," she responded. Just last night, she was wondering how she would have gotten through the past week without him.

Rhoda could tell that there was something else wrong, something other than the baby. "Is there something wrong with the world's cutest couple?" she inquired.

Mary shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. She had been having mixed feelings about everything, and she had no idea how to describe them. "I mean, today, within hours, we will find out whether or not this baby is going to live, and all I am able to think about is David. When will David get back here? What is David doing now?" she explained.

Rhoda looked to her with understanding. "I see," she informed her. "You feel guilty," she said, starting to smile.

"Why are you smiling at that?" Mary snapped. "Not even out of the hospital and I'm a bad parent."

Rhoda laughed. "Mary! You don't wanna think about the baby because it hurts too much. David is a distraction, he's what you're using to not think about the kid," she explained.

Mary's expression softened. "You really think so?" she asked. Normally, she could figure this stuff out on her own, but with the lack of sleep, and all the stress from this week, she wasn't thinking as clearly as she should have been.

"Yeah," Rhoda answered. "It's like when I think about food rather than the speeding ticket I got," she said.

Mary softly laughed and then over towards the window. Rhoda was just glad to see her smile today. Walking in, she thought that Mary was going to be a nervous wreck all day.

The door opened, and David stuck his head into the room quick, motioning for Rhoda to come out and see him real quick. "Be right back," she told Mary, and then got up and left.

Mary found it odd that she was going out there to talk to him, but then again, they were probably talking about her. Nothing bad, just worried about her, talking about what would happen if she didn't get to take her son home. He was probably asking her how she had been holding up while he was gone and if she had heard anything.

Rhoda got outside the room and shut the door. "Did you get it?" she eagerly asked.

David nodded. "Yes, and no matter what happens tonight, she'll get her present," he informed her.

Rhoda smiled. "Good. The kid deserves something good. Lately it seems like she has been taking enough hits for all of us," she commented, looking towards the room.

"For the next few years," David added.

Rhoda sighed and then looked up to David. "Well, I guess they're gonna go ahead and try his lungs out in a few hours. I'll go take a walk or somethin' and let you two have the rest of the time," she offered.

David was about to agree to it, but he stopped. "I think she needs you there too," he stated.

"When it gets closer to the time, I'll come back," she said and then started off down the hall. "I'll only be gone an hour!" she called back to him.

David just nodded and then headed back into the room.

O o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Four hours had passed. It was starting to get dark outside as the three sat there in the silent room. No one wanted to say anything. No one wanted to somehow jinx the baby.

Mary just sat on the bed as Greg sat beside her and Rhoda stood before the window. No one was even pacing. Just stillness. None of them liked it, but no one wanted to be the one to brake it. Besides, there was too much on their minds right now to start some sort of random conversation.

As much as Mary hated it though, she didn't want it to end. As soon as the doctor walked in there and told them what was going on, there was a definite change. If they had good news, then they could all just go home and everything would go on from there. If it was bad news though, there was no going back, and for a while there would be no going forward. For right now, she could hold on to the small amount of hope that she truly had. The longer that lasted, the better.

"What do you think of the name Tate?" Mary suggested, looking to David.

"What?" he asked, surprised that she had even spoken.

"Tate? What do you think of the name Tate Morgan Richards?" she implored. She knew that it was a bad idea to think of names right now. Naming the baby would just bring more attachment, which meant more heart ache if things went wrong. On the other hand though, she would was hurting as it was, if something went wrong it wouldn't matter what his name was.

"I like it," he replied and then kissed her on the cheek.

Mary was about to say something, but the door opened and the doctor walked in. For a moment, the entire world seemed to stop as the three of them turned to him and froze.

"We took him off the ventilator," he started. "He had some trouble at first, but it looks like he's going to be just fine," he explained with a smile.

The doctor congratulated them before leaving. Mary smiled and threw her arms around David. "Tate lived," she announced with tears in her eyes.

David returned the hug. "I know," he responded with a smile.

Rhoda waited a moment before joining them. "Congrats kid," she said as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

Mary looked over and smiled to her. "Thank you," she said before hugging her.

"Just make sure to let me babysit a few times," Rhoda said before pulling back. "See ya tomorrow," she said and then stood up.

Mary saw her smile back to David right before she left. "What was that about?" she inquired.

David smiled to her. Now, was his chance. David took a deep breath and then got up off the bed and then down on one knee. He pulled out a small box from his pocket and revealed a small diamond ring. He could tell that Mary didn't know what to say as she looked to him with wide eyes. Instead of trying to figure out if that was good or not, he just went ahead and decided to wait until after he asked her to find out.

"We started out with a rough patch, on the date that you were supposed to go out with me, you took someone else," he joked. "But after that, you finally noticed me. Ever since then, even though you haven't been having the best time, I can honestly say that I'm glad that I was the one that was there with you. I will never leave your side. As long as you need me, I'll be there. Mary Richards, will you allow me to be your husband?" he asked.

Mary, who was already a bit of an emotional wreck from everything that had gone on lately, couldn't say anything. She smiled and nodded.

David put the ring on her finger and then joined her back on the bed and kissed her. "Thank you," he said.

Mary smiled to him through tears. "I should be the one thanking you," she stated.

"You don't have to, I love you," he responded.

Mary just laughed and then kissed him.


End file.
